2007/12/03 by J. Peatross, Justin Peatross, Carsten Müller +2 · 45 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies #Atomic physics #Common emitter #Electron #Field (mathematics) #Laser #Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications #Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics #Optoelectronics #Physics #Quantum #Quantum mechanics #Wave function #Wave packet #physics.atom-ph #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.100.153601
published in Physical Review Letters 100(15), 153601 (American Physical Society) · 5 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2007/12/03 · openalex publication_date 2008/04/15 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The radiation emitted by a single-electron wave packet in an intense laser field is considered. A relation between the exact quantum formulation and its classical counterpart is established via the electron's Wigner function. In particular, we show that the wave packet, even when it spreads to the scale of the wavelength of the driving laser field, cannot be treated as an extended classical charge distribution, but rather behaves as a pointlike emitter carrying information on its initial quantum state. We outline an experimental setup dedicated to put this conclusion to the test.