相关论文: Magnetic and electric properties of quantum vacuum
The quantum vacuum constitutes a fascinating medium of study, in particular since near-future laser facilities will be able to probe the nonlinear nature of this vacuum. There has been a large number of proposed tests of the low-energy,…
New processes associated with the nonlinear optical properties of the electromagnetic vacuum, as predicted by quantum electrodynamics are described. We consider the presence of a static and a rotating magnetic field. The cases of harmonic…
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 electromagnetic vacuum is known to have energy. It has been recently argued that the quantum vacuum can possess momentum, that adds up to the momentum of matter. This ``Casimir momentum'' is closely related to the Casimir effect, in…
We want to study the influence of the quantum vacuum on the light propagation. At first, by working in the standard linear quantum theory of the electromagnetic fields, it is shown that the electric permittivity and the magnetic…
Some of the basic notions of nonlinear optics are summarized and then applied to the case of the Dirac vacuum, as described by the Heisenberg-Euler effective one-loop Lagrangian. The theoretical and experimental basis for the appearance of…
Nonlinear optical effects in vacuum have been investigated as a means to verify quantum electrodynamics in a region of low photon energy. By considering nonlinear electromagnetic waves in a three-dimensional cylindrical cavity, we report…
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…
This paper is devoted to the theory of quantum electromagnetic field in an optically dense medium. Self-consistent equations describing interaction between a quantum field and a quantum dielectric medium are obtained from the first…
Quantum electrodynamics predicts the vacuum to behave as a non-linear medium, including effects such as birefringence. However, for experimentally available field strengths, this vacuum polarizability is extremely small and thus very hard…
In this Chapter, we give a brief review of the state of the art of theoretical and experimental studies of quantum fluids of light. Such systems consist of ensembles of photons that acquire a finite mass from spatial confinement or…
By mapping the strong interaction between Rydberg excitations in ultra-cold atomic ensembles onto single photons via electromagnetically induced transparency, it is now possible to realize a nonlinear optical medium which exhibits a strong…
The triumphs of the Standard Model of Particle Physics call attention upon an old idea, that the so-called vacuum is an accessible physical medium, and not just a tautology. I take this idea as a serious working hypothesis, and I suggest a…
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…
It is commonly agreed that the electromagnetic vacuum is not empty but filled with virtual photons. This leads to effects like Lamb shift and spontaneous emission. Here we argue that if the vacuum has virtual photons it might mean that it…
We assume that particles are point-like objects even when not observed. We report on the consequences of our assumption within the realm of quantum theory. An important consequence is the necessity of vacuum fields to account for particle…
In quantum theory the vacuum is defined as a state of minimum energy that is devoid of particles but still not completely empty. It is perhaps more surprising that its definition depends on the geometry of the system and on the trajectory…
We give a brief overview of the way atomic physics is now developing in a way reminiscent of the optics revolution of the 1960's. Thanks in particular to recent developments in atomic trapping and cooling, the new field of atom optics is…
Vacuum quantum fluctuations are an inescapable and fundamental feature of modern physics. By integrating cavity-enhanced or surface-modified vacuum quantum fluctuations with low-dimensional materials, a new paradigm-vacuumronics-emerges,…
This paper reviews some of our recent results in nonlinear atom optics. In addition to nonlinear wave-mixing between matter waves, we also discuss the dynamical interplay between optical and matter waves. This new paradigm, which is now…