2009/01/31 by F. Hebenstreit, Florian Hebenstreit, Reinhard Alkofer +2 · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies #Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications #Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics #hep-ph #hep-th #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.102.150404
published as Phys.Rev.Lett.102:150404,2009 · 4 pages, 5 figures. Revised version: Minor changes and typos corrected. PRL Version
openalex publication_date 2009/04/17 · arxiv created 2009/04/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We investigate electron-positron pair production from vacuum for short laser pulses with a subcycle structure, in the nonperturbative regime (Schwinger pair production). We use the nonequilibrium quantum kinetic approach and show that the momentum spectrum of the created electron-positron pairs is extremely sensitive to the subcycle dynamics-depending on the laser frequency omega, the pulse length tau, and the carrier phase varphi-and shows several distinctive new signatures. This observation could not only help in the design of laser pulses to optimize the experimental signature of Schwinger pair production but also ultimately lead to new probes of light pulses at extremely short time scales.