Related papers: Vacuum birefringence detection in all-optical scen…
A full density-matrix simulation is performed for optical deflection of a barium monofluoride (BaF) beam. Pairs of counter-propagating laser pulses are used for stimulated absorption followed by stimulated emission. The scheme produces a…
The PVLAS collaboration is presently assembling a new apparatus (at the INFN section of Ferrara, Italy) to detect vacuum magnetic birefringence (VMB). VMB is related to the structure of the QED vacuum and is predicted by the…
Optical potentials have been a versatile tool for the study of atomic motions and many-body interactions in cold atoms. Recently, optical subwavelength single barriers were proposed to enhance the atomic interaction energy scale, which is…
We present an optical aberration correction technique for ultracold quantum gas experiments which directly utilizes the quantum gas as a wavefront sensor. The direct use of the quantum gas enables correcting aberrations that are otherwise…
Several groups are carrying out experiments to observe and measure vacuum magnetic birefringence, predicted by Quantum Electrodynamics (QED). We have started running the new PVLAS apparatus installed in Ferrara, Italy, and have measured a…
Possible violations of Lorentz invariance (LIV) can produce vacuum birefringence, which results in a frequency-dependent rotation of the polarization plane of linearly polarized light from distant sources. In this paper, we try to search…
The most efficient approach to laser interferometric force sensing to date uses monochromatic carrier light with its signal sideband spectrum in a squeezed vacuum state. Quantum decoherence, i.e. mixing with an ordinary vacuum state due to…
The focus of these lectures is on the quantum vacuum subjected to classical electromagnetic fields. To this end we explicitly derive the renowned Heisenberg-Euler effective action in constant electromagnetic fields in a rather pedagogical…
Low energy non linear QED effects in vacuum have been predicted since 1936 and have been subject of research for many decades. Two main schemes have been proposed for such a 'first' detection: measurements of ellipticity acquired by a…
Nonlinear interactions of light with light are well known in quantum electronics, and it is quite common to generate harmonic or subharmonic beams from a primary laser with photonic crystals. One suprising result of quantum electrodynamics…
The quantum vacuum shows an intensity-dependent nonlinear index of refraction. Consequently, we may consider vacuum as a non-linear medium enabling, at sufficiently high field strengths, a direct interaction of light with light. In this…
We demonstrate that tailored laser beams provide a powerful means to make quantum vacuum signatures in strong electromagnetic fields accessible in experiment. Typical scenarios aiming at the detection of quantum vacuum nonlinearities at the…
We study the nonlinear QED signature of x-ray vacuum diffraction in the head-on collision of optical high-intensity and x-ray free-electron laser pulses at finite spatio-temporal offsets between the laser foci. The high-intensity laser…
Quantum vacuum experiments are becoming a flexible tool for investigating fundamental physics. They are particularly powerful for searching for new light but weakly interacting degrees of freedom and are thus complementary to…
The influence of the strong laser-driven vacuum on a propagating electromagnetic probe wave has been studied in detail. We investigate two scenarios comprising a focused probe laser beam passing through a region of vacuum polarised by an…
The interaction of petawatt ($10^{15}\ \mathrm{W}$) lasers with solid matter forms the basis for advanced scientific applications such as table-top particle accelerators, ultrafast imaging systems and laser fusion. Key metrics for these…
Nonlinear optics experiments measuring phase shifts induced in a weak probe pulse by a strong pump pulse must account for coherent effects that only occur when the pump and probe pulses are temporally overlapped. It is well known that a…
Optical tweezer arrays of laser-cooled and individual controlled particles have revolutionized the atomic, molecular and optical physics, and they afford exquisite capabilities for applications in quantum simulation of many-body physics,…
One of the latest proposed applications of ultra-intense laser pulses is their possible use to gauge extreme high vacuum by measuring the photon radiation resulting from nonlinear Thomson scattering within a vacuum tube. Here, we provide a…
A number of experiments are underway to detect vacuum birefringence and dichroism -- PVLAS, Q & A, and BMV. Recently, PVLAS experiment has observed optical rotation in vacuum by a magnetic field (vacuum dichroism). Theoretical…