Hannover 2016 – scientific programme

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A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 24: Interaction with strong or short laser pulses I

A 24.2: Talk

Wednesday, March 2, 2016, 11:15–11:30, f303

Spin effects in high-intensity light-matter interactions — •Heiko Bauke¹, Rico Erhard¹, Anton Wöllert¹, Sven Ahrens¹, Rainer Grobe², and Christoph H. Keitel¹ — ¹Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg — ²Intense Laser Physics Theory Unit and Department of Physics, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois 61790-4560 USA

Various spin effects are expected to become observable in light-matter interaction at relativistic intensities, in particular if electromagnetic fields with elliptical polarization are involved. It is shown that there is a coupling of the spin angular momentum of light beams with elliptical polarization to the spin degree of freedom of free electrons. This coupling is of similar origin as the well-known spin-orbit coupling and can lead to spin precession [1, 2] as well as spin dynamics in Kapitza-Dirac scattering [3]. Remarkably, these effects are caused by relativistic corrections to the Pauli equation but may be observed even at nonrelativistic intensities. Furthermore, it is demonstrated how the ellipticity of ultra-strong counterpropagating electromagnetic fields affects pair creation and can lead to spin-polarized electron-positron pairs [4].