English

Field-assisted birefringent Compton scattering

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2022-12-08 v1 High Energy Physics - Theory Optics

Abstract

Motivated by experimental initiatives such as the Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields (HIBEF), we study Compton scattering of x-rays at electrons in a strong external field (e.g., a strong optical laser) with special emphasis on the polarization-changing (i.e., birefringent) contribution on the amplitude level. Apart from being a potential background process for the planned vacuum birefringence experiments, this effect could be used for diagnostic purposes. Since the birefringent signal from free electrons (i.e., without the external field) vanishes in forward direction, the ratio of the birefringent and the normal (polarization conserving) contribution yields information about the field strength at the interaction point.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2212.03350,
  title  = {Field-assisted birefringent Compton scattering},
  author = {N. Ahmadiniaz and T. E. Cowan and M. Ding and M. A. Lopez Lopez and R. Sauerbrey and R. Shaisultanov and R. Schützhold},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2212.03350},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

6 pages, 2 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-28T07:24:16.128Z