Related papers: Ellipticity induced in vacuum birefringence
Quantum field theory predicts the vacuum to exhibit a non-linear response to strong electromagnetic fields. This fundamental tenet has remained experimentally challenging and is yet to be tested in the laboratory. We present proof of…
This work establishes a relation between chiral anomalies in curved spacetimes and the radiative content of the gravitational field. In particular, we show that a flux of circularly polarized gravitational waves triggers the spontaneous…
We present constraints on isotropic cosmic birefringence induced by axion-like particles (ALPs), derived from the analysis of cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization measurements obtained with the high-frequency channels of Planck.…
A comparative experimental and theoretical investigation is presented that centres on the effects of structuring black silicon surfaces with linearly, circularly and azimuthally polarized laser pulses under SF6 ambient atmosphere. It is…
The effect of static electromagnetic fields on the propagation of light is analyzed in the context of a particular class of scalar-tensor gravitational theories. It is found that for appropriate field configurations and light polarization,…
We show that a recent constraint on the cosmic birefringence effect due to dark energy can be related to the constraints on the coupling of axion dark matter to photon, by relying on a simple model of two-axion alignment mechanism with…
Optical forces allow manipulation of small particles and control of nanophotonic structures with light beams. Here, we describe a counter-intuitive lateral optical force acting on particles placed above a substrate, under uniform plane wave…
Transverse photo-induced voltage (TPIV) in 25nm-thick Au film with random holes with 100 nm in diameter is measured for linearly, circularly and elliptically polarized light. By rotating the major axis of ellipse of the light, TPIV exhibits…
This paper models light scattering through flat surfaces with finite transmission, reflection and absorption rates, with wave packets approaching the mirror from both sides. While using the same notion of photons as in free space, our model…
We provide a vivid demonstration of the mechanical effect of transverse spin momentum in an optical beam in free space. This component of the Poynting momentum was previously thought to be virtual, and unmeasurable. Here, its effect is…
The response of the QED vacuum in an asymptotically large electromagnetic field is studied. In this regime the vacuum energy is strongly influenced by the vacuum polarization effect. The possible interaction between the virtual…
Motivated by recent experimental initiatives, such as at the Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields (HIBEF) at the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL), we calculate the birefringent scattering of x-rays at the combined…
Forthcoming radio surveys will include full polarisation information, which can be potentially useful for weak lensing observations. We propose a new method to measure the (integrated) gravitational field between a source and the observer,…
We propose an experiment for detecting Axion-Like Particles (ALPs) based on the axion-photon interaction in the presence of a non-uniform magnetic field. The impact of virtual ALPs on the polarization of the photons inside a cavity is…
The optical medium analogy of a radiation field generated by either an exact gravitational plane wave or an exact electromagnetic wave in the framework of general relativity is developed. The equivalent medium of the associated background…
Electromagnetism becomes a nonlinear theory having (effective) photon-photon interactions due at least to electron-positron fluctuations in the vacuum. We discuss the consequences of the nonlinearity for the force felt by a charge probe…
The longitudinal components of orthogonal-circularly polarized fields carry a phase singularity that changes sign depending on the polarization handedness. The addition of orbital angular momentum adds to or cancels this singularity and…
The polarized light of the cosmic microwave background is sensitive to new physics that violates parity symmetry. For example, the interaction of photons with the fields of elusive dark matter and dark energy could cause a uniform rotation…
An experiment for the advanced undergraduate laboratory allowing students to directly observe the effect of photon polarisation on Compton scattering is described. An initially unpolarised beam of photons is polarised via Compton scattering…
We consider the Heisenberg-Euler action for an electromagnetic field in vacuum, which includes quantum corrections to the Maxwell equations induced by photon-photon scattering. We show that, in some configurations, the plane monochromatic…