David A. Reis · David A. Reis Stanford PULSE Institute Strong- eld light matter interactions are...
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Strong-field QED in laser-electron beam collisions David A. Reis Stanford PULSE Institute Strong-field light matter interactions are ubiquitous in the optical regime, where tunnel ionization leads to such phenom- ena as high-harmonic generation and above- threshold ionization. For x rays, nonlinear interactions have only recently become ac- cessible using free-electron lasers such as the LCLS[1, 2]. At sufficiently high fields, even the vacuum becomes nonlinear. Here tunnel ionization of the vacuum can produce copi- ous electron-positron pairs at field strengths comparable to the electron mass in a Comp- ton wavelength[3]. Such fields are orders of magnitude away from what is possible with even the most intense lasers, but are expected to occur in various astrophysical phenomena as well as in beam-beam collisions in future lepton colliders. Importantly, they can also occur in the collisions of high energy electrons or photons with a strong laser field. Figure 1: Intensity dependence of multiphoton Breit-Wheeler from E144 experiment. In this talk, I will discuss efforts to sys- tematically explore the strong-field regime of QED, including at the FACET-II facility at SLAC. I will describe what we expect to see and how this differs qualitatively from pertur- bative QED, such as was studied two decades ago on the seminal SLAC Experiment-144, including multi-photon Breit-Wheeler pair production [4, 5], Fig. 1. [1] S. Shwartz, et al., X-ray second harmonic generation. Phys. Rev. Lett., 112:163901, 2014. [2] M. Fuchs, et al., Anomalous nonlinear x-ray Compton scattering. Nat Phys, 11:964–970, 11 2015. [3] Di Piazza et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. Ex- tremely high-intensity laser interactions with fundamental quantum systems. 84, 1177, 2012. [4] D. L. Burke, et al., Positron production in multiphoton light-by-light scattering. Phys. Rev. Lett., 79:1626–1629, 1997. [5] C. Bamber, et al. Studies of nonlinear QED in collisions of 46.6 GeV electrons with in- tense laser pulses. Phys. Rev. D, 60:092004, 1999. This abstract was submitted to PQE-2019, the 49th Winter Colloquium on the Physics of Quantum Electronics. Submitted by David A. Reis on Sat Dec 8 19:53:27 CST 2018. See the program for placement of this presentation.
Transcript of David A. Reis · David A. Reis Stanford PULSE Institute Strong- eld light matter interactions are...
Strong-field QED in laser-electron beam collisions
David A. Reis
Stanford PULSE Institute
Strong-field light matter interactions areubiquitous in the optical regime, wheretunnel ionization leads to such phenom-ena as high-harmonic generation and above-threshold ionization. For x rays, nonlinearinteractions have only recently become ac-cessible using free-electron lasers such as theLCLS[1, 2]. At sufficiently high fields, eventhe vacuum becomes nonlinear. Here tunnelionization of the vacuum can produce copi-ous electron-positron pairs at field strengthscomparable to the electron mass in a Comp-ton wavelength[3]. Such fields are orders ofmagnitude away from what is possible witheven the most intense lasers, but are expectedto occur in various astrophysical phenomenaas well as in beam-beam collisions in futurelepton colliders. Importantly, they can alsooccur in the collisions of high energy electronsor photons with a strong laser field.
Figure 1: Intensity dependence of multiphotonBreit-Wheeler from E144 experiment.
In this talk, I will discuss efforts to sys-tematically explore the strong-field regime ofQED, including at the FACET-II facility atSLAC. I will describe what we expect to seeand how this differs qualitatively from pertur-bative QED, such as was studied two decadesago on the seminal SLAC Experiment-144,including multi-photon Breit-Wheeler pairproduction [4, 5], Fig. 1.
[1] S. Shwartz, et al., X-ray second harmonicgeneration. Phys. Rev. Lett., 112:163901,2014.
[2] M. Fuchs, et al., Anomalous nonlinearx-ray Compton scattering. Nat Phys,11:964–970, 11 2015.
[3] Di Piazza et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. Ex-tremely high-intensity laser interactionswith fundamental quantum systems. 84,1177, 2012.
[4] D. L. Burke, et al., Positron productionin multiphoton light-by-light scattering.Phys. Rev. Lett., 79:1626–1629, 1997.
[5] C. Bamber, et al. Studies of nonlinear QEDin collisions of 46.6 GeV electrons with in-tense laser pulses. Phys. Rev. D, 60:092004,1999.
This abstract was submitted to PQE-2019, the 49th Winter Colloquium on the Physics of Quantum Electronics.Submitted by David A. Reis on Sat Dec 8 19:53:27 CST 2018.See the program for placement of this presentation.
