Related papers: Refraction of light by light in vacuum
When an electron is scattered by a tightly-focused laser beam in vacuum, the intensity gradient is a critical factor to influence the electron dynamics, for example, the electron energy exchange with the laser fields as have been explored…
The quest to manipulate light propagation in ways not possible with natural media has driven the development of artificially structured metamaterials. One of the most striking effects is negative refraction, where the light beam deflects…
Pronounced maximum absorption of laser light irradiating a rare-gas or metal cluster is widely expected during the linear resonance (LR) when Mie-plasma wavelength $\lambdaM$ of electrons equals the laser wavelength $\lambda$. On the…
Spatial distributions of electrons ionized and scattered from ultra-low pressure gases are proposed and experimentally demonstrated as a method to directly measure the intensity of an ultra-high intensity laser pulse. Analytic models…
We describe the design, construction and performance of a 4-circle in-vacuum diffractometer for resonant elastic soft x-ray scattering and reflectivity. The diffractometer, installed on the REIXS beamline at the Canadian Light Source,…
We report the first experimental observation of a long-wavelength hosing modulation of a high-intensity laser pulse. Side-view images of the scattered optical radiation at the fundamental wave-length of the laser reveal a transverse…
Transient surface electric fields induced by femtosecond laser irradiation of an aluminum film were investigated directly by ultrashort electron pulses. At pump intensities of 2.9~7.1 * 10^10 W/cm2, the transient electric fields last at…
A method for the controlled generation of intense high frequency electromagnetic fields by a breaking Langmuir wave (relativistic flying mirrors) in a gradually inhomogeneous plasma is proposed. The wave breaking threshold depends on the…
We propose a measurement of laser-induced vacuum birefringence through the use of pulsed lasers coupled to femtosecond optical enhancement cavities. This measurement technique features cavity-enhanced pump and probe pulses, as well as an…
Light-pulse atom interferometers serve as tools for high-precision metrology and are targeting measurements of relativistic effects. This development is facilitated by extended interrogation times and large-momentum-transfer techniques…
We study tunable refraction of light in one-dimensional periodic lattices induced optically in a photorefractive crystal. We observe experimentally both positive and negative refraction of beams which selectively excite the first or second…
Recent simulations show that very large electric and magnetic fields near the kilo Tesla strength will likely be generated by ultra-intense lasers at existing facilities over distances of hundreds of microns in underdense plasmas. Stronger…
We report the observation of imaging beyond the diffraction limit due to bound surface states in negative refraction photonic crystals. We achieve an effective negative index figure-of-merit [-Re(n)/Im(n)] of at least 380, ~125x improvement…
Raman backscattered radiation of intense laser pulses in plasma is investigated for a wide range of intensities relevant to laser wakefield acceleration. The weakly nonlinear dispersion relation for Raman backscattering predicts an…
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…
We show that photons subject to a spatially inhomogeneous electromagnetic field can experience quantum reflection. Based on this observation, we propose quantum reflection as a novel means to probe the nonlinearity of the quantum vacuum in…
The axial dependence of femtosecond filamentation in air is measured under conditions of varying laser pulsewidth, energy, and focusing f-number. Filaments are characterized by the ultrafast z-dependent absorption of energy from the laser…
We show that weakly-bound molecules can be probed by "shaking" in a pulsed nonresonant laser field. The field introduces a centrifugal term which expels the highest vibrational level from the potential that binds it. Our numerical…
Efficient coupling of intense laser pulses to solid-density matter is critical to many applications including ion acceleration for cancer therapy. At relativistic intensities, the focus has been mainly on investigating various laser beams…
We derive upper bounds to free-space concentration of electromagnetic waves, mapping out the limits to maximum intensity for any spot size and optical beam-shaping device. For sub-diffraction-limited optical beams, our bounds suggest the…