Superluminal spacetime boundary, time reflection and quantum light generation from relativistic plasma mirrors
Abstract
A plasma mirror is an optical device for high-power, ultrashort-wavelength electromagnetic fields, utilizing a sheet of relativistic oscillating electrons to generate and manipulate light. In this work, we propose that the spatiotemporally varying plasma oscillation, induced by an ultra-high-intensity laser beam, functions as a "spacetime mirror" with significant potential for exploring quantum light. We find that the spacetime mirror exhibits several exotic features: (i) a superluminal spacetime boundary, (ii) time reflection and refraction, and (iii) quantum light sources with pair generation. Our theoretical and simulation results are in excellent agreement, and experimental verification is underway. Our work demonstrates the interplay with emerging fields such as time varying media, suggesting the plasma mirror as an ideal platform to study strong-field quantum optics at extremes.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2410.01287,
title = {Superluminal spacetime boundary, time reflection and quantum light generation from relativistic plasma mirrors},
author = {Chenhao Pan and Xinbing Song and Yang Cao and Li Xiong and Xiaofei Lan and Shaoyi Wang and Yuxin Leng and Yiming Pan},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2410.01287},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
36 pages, 4 figures, SM file, 5 suppl. figures