Hannover 2020 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 39: Posters: Quantum Optics and Photonics III
Q 39.58: Poster
Wednesday, March 11, 2020, 16:30–18:30, Empore Lichthof
Probing the Quantum Vacuum with High-Intensity Laser Fields — Ricardo R.Q.P.T. Oude Weernink1,2, •Leonhard Klar1,2, Felix Karbstein1,2, and Holger Gies1,2 — 1Theoretisch-Physikalisches Institut, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany — 2Helmholtz-Institut Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany
From the perspective of quantum field theory vacuum is not the absence of everything but characterized by the omnipresence of quantum vacuum fluctuations. In contrast to classical vacuum it is described by virtual particle-antiparticle pairs being created and annihilated on extremely short time and length scales. The theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED) predicts non-linear effective interactions between electromagnetic fields mediated by such vacuum fluctuations. These effects however are yet to be measured directly.
One example of QED vacuum non-linearity is the process of photon-photon scattering. In order to make this process experimentally accessible we suggest two different approaches. The first collides several tightly focused fundamental Gaussian laser beams. Using frequency doubling and a special geometry we generate a narrow high-intensity scattering center allowing us to obtain signal photons discernible from the background of the driving laser beams. In the second approach, we limit ourselves to two counter-propagating pulses. This time however both beams are considered to be arbitrary Hermite-Gaussian modes. This results in interesting field configurations which are examined for their potential to induce signal photons distinguishable from the background with finite impact parameter.