2016/03/01 by Holger Gies, Felix Karbstein, Nico Seegert
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Computational physics #Context (archaeology) #Electromagnetic field #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Laser #Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications #Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics #Optics #Photon #Photon polarization #Physics #Polarization (electrochemistry) #Quantum electrodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Scattering #hep-ph #hep-th #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.93.085034
published as Phys. Rev. D 93, 085034 (2016) · 14 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2016/03/01 · openalex publication_date 2016/04/27 · arxiv updated 2016/04/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We investigate photon merging and splitting processes in inhomogeneous, slowly varying electromagnetic fields. Our study is based on the three-photon polarization tensor following from the Heisenberg-Euler effective action. We put special emphasis on deviations from the well-known constant field results, also revisiting the selection rules for these processes. In the context of high-intensity laser facilities, we analytically determine compact expressions for the number of merged/split photons as obtained in the focal spots of intense laser beams. For the parameter range of typical petawatt class laser systems as pump and probe, we provide estimates for the numbers of signal photons attainable in an actual experiment. The combination of frequency upshifting, polarization dependence and scattering off the inhomogeneities renders photon merging an ideal signature for the experimental exploration of nonlinear quantum vacuum properties.