2017/12/31 by Holger Gies, Felix Karbstein, Christian Kohlfürst +1 · 60 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Fiber Laser Technologies #Computer science #Intensity (physics) #Laser #Laser-Matter Interactions and Applications #Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics #Optics #Photon #Physics #SIGNAL (programming language) #hep-ph #hep-th #physics.optics #physics.plasm-ph #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.97.076002
published in Physical review. D/Physical review. D. 97(7) (American Physical Society) · 7 pages, 2 figures; matches journal version
openalex publication_date 2018/04/09 · arxiv created 2018/04/10 · arxiv updated 2018/04/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
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 frontier. We advocate a particularly prospective scenario, where three synchronized high-intensity laser pulses are brought into collision, giving rise to signal photons, whose frequency and propagation direction differ from the driving laser pulses, thus providing various means to achieve an excellent signal to background separation. Based on the theoretical concept of vacuum emission, we employ an efficient numerical algorithm which allows us to model the collision of focused high-intensity laser pulses in unprecedented detail. We provide accurate predictions for the numbers of signal photons accessible in experiment. Our study is the first to predict the precise angular spread of the signal photons, and paves the way for a first verification of quantum vacuum nonlinearity in a well-controlled laboratory experiment at one of the many high-intensity laser facilities currently coming online.