Related papers: Strong-field vacuum polarisation with high energy …
These notes provide a pedagogical introduction to the theoretical study of vacuum polarization effects in strong electromagnetic fields as provided by state-of-the-art high-intensity lasers. Quantum vacuum fluctuations give rise to…
When exposed to intense electromagnetic fields, the quantum vacuum is expected to exhibit properties of a polarisable medium akin to a weakly nonlinear dielectric material. Various schemes have been proposed to measure such vacuum…
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…
A long-standing prediction of quantum electrodynamics, yet to be experimentally observed, is the interaction between real photons in vacuum. As a consequence of this interaction, the vacuum is expected to become birefringent and dichroic if…
The probability of photon emission of a charged particle traversing a strong field becomes modified if vacuum polarization is considered. This feature is important for fundamental quantum electrodynamics processes present in extreme…
The classical nonlinear laser-plasma interaction theory is corrected. Given the effects of vacuum polarization (induced by extreme laser) as nonlinear media response, one-dimensional wave equations of a monochromatic laser field are derived…
Upcoming high-intensity laser systems will be able to probe the quantum-induced nonlinear regime of electrodynamics. So far unobserved QED phenomena such as the discovery of a nonlinear response of the quantum vacuum to macroscopic…
We consider strong-field effects in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas and high intensity laser and cavity systems. Current state-of-the-art laser facilities are close to reaching energy scales at which quantum electrodynamics will play a…
This contribution presents an overview of fundamental QED processes in the presence of an external field produced by an ultra-intense laser. The discussion focusses on the basic intensity effects on vacuum polarisation and the prospects for…
The quantum electrodynamical vacuum polarization effects arising in the collision of a high-energy proton beam and a strong, linearly polarized laser field are investigated. The probability that laser photons merge into one photon by…
Since the work of Sauter, and Heisenberg, Euler and K\"ockel, it has been understood that vacuum polarization effects in quantum electrodynamics (QED) predict remarkable new phenomena such as light-light scattering and pair production from…
Collision of ultra-intense optical laser and X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) pulses is a promising approach to detecting nonlinear vacuum polarization (VP), a long-standing prediction of quantum electrodynamics remaining to be tested.…
The tremendous progress in high-intensity laser technology and the establishment of dedicated high-field laboratories in recent years have paved the way towards a first observation of quantum vacuum nonlinearities at the high-intensity…
In vacuum high-intensity lasers can cause photon-photon interaction via the process of virtual vacuum polarization which may be measured by the phase velocity shift of photons across intense fields. In the optical frequency domain, the…
In the collision of a high-energy proton beam and a strong laser field, merging of the laser photons can occur due to the polarization of vacuum. The probability of photon merging is calculated by accounting exactly for the laser field and…
We aim at insights about how localization of the background field impacts nonlinear quantum vacuum signatures probed by photons in purely magnetic, electric and crossed fields. The starting point of our study are the one-loop results for…
High power short pulse lasers provide a promising route to study the strong field effects of the quantum vacuum, for example by direct photon-photon scattering in the all-optical regime. Theoretical predictions based on realistic laser…
We review the theory for photon-photon scattering in vacuum, and some of the proposals for its experimental search, including the results of our recent works on the subject. We then describe a very simple and sensitive proposal of an…
In spatially structured strong laser fields, quantum electrodynamical vacuum behaves like a nonlinear Kerr medium with modulated third-order susceptibility where new coherent nonlinear effects arise due to modulation. We consider the…
We investigate strong field vacuum effects using a phase space approach based on the Wigner formalism. We calculate the Wigner function in a strong null-field background exactly, using lightfront field theory. The Wigner function exhibits…