Nonlinear Diffraction from a Virtual Beam

Saltiel, S.; Neshev, Dragomir N.; Królikowski, Wiesław; Voloch‐Bloch, Noa; Arie, Ady; Bang, Ole; Kivshar, Yuri S.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.104.083902

Cited by 45 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…In optics of continuous media it is known that the periodic structure of a medium can significantly enhance the scattering due to interference of the scattered light generated from different layers of the structure (Bragg scattering) [28]. The Bragg concept is quite general and is applied not only in the context of propagation of electromagnetic waves [29] but also in quantum optics [30], atom optics [31] and for matter waves [32].In this letter, we investigate Bragg scattering of a probe laser beam due to vacuum polarization in a strong spatially modulated external electromagnetic field. At certain scattering angles when the Bragg interference condition is fulfilled, the probability of the photon scattering is enhanced with respect to the usual photon-photon scattering by a factor proportional to the square of the number of periods in the structure.…”

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Bragg Scattering of Light in Vacuum Structured by Strong Periodic Fields

Kryuchkyan

Hatsagortsyan

2011

Phys. Rev. Lett.

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Elastic scattering of laser radiation due to vacuum polarization by spatially modulated strong electromagnetic fields is considered. The Bragg interference arising at a specific impinging direction of the probe wave concentrates the scattered light in specular directions. The interference maxima are enhanced with respect to the usual vacuum polarization effect proportional to the square of the number of modulation periods within the interaction region. The Bragg scattering can be employed to detect the vacuum polarization effect in a setup of multiple crossed super-strong laser beams with parameters envisaged in the future Extreme Light Infrastructure. PACS numbers: 42.50.Xa,12.20.Fv Quantum electrodynamical vacuum fluctuates via virtual electron-positron pairs which induces polarization in strong external fields. The characteristic field when the vacuum polarization effects become significant is the so-called critical field E cr = m 2 /e at which an electron gains energy equal to its rest mass m within the Compton wavelength λ c = 1/m [1][2][3], where e is the electron charge, I cr ≡ E 2 cr /8π ≈ 2.3 × 10 29 W/cm 2 ,h = c = 1 units are used throughout. The only vacuum polarization effect observed experimentally is the Delbrück scattering [4], the scattering of γ-rays by a high-Z atomic target. In this process vacuum is polarized due to singular Coulomb field of highly charged ions. In contrast to that, vacuum polarization effects are not observed in macroscopic electromagnetic fields created in a laboratory. Since 2000 the experiments of the PVLAS collaboration has been underway [5,6] devoted to measurement of vacuum birefringence in a constant magnetic field using state-of-the-art technique of superconducting magnets with a magnetic field B reaching B/B cr ∼ 10 −9 , with the critical magnetic field B cr = m 2 /e = 4.4×10 9 T. Recently, strong field laser technique is advancing rapidly, fostered, from one side, by the laser fusion program [7] and, from another side, by the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) project [8] aiming at the creation of the strongest laser fields for scientific purposes using all the power of the chirped pulse amplification technique [9]. The laser field is the strongest field created in a laboratory which can be harnessed to test the strong field QED theory via vacuum polarization effects [10][11][12][13]. The present petawatt lasers can produce intensities of I ∼ 10 22 W/cm 2 [14], while intensities up to I ∼ 10 26 W/cm 2 (E/E cr ∼ 3 × 10 −2 ) are envisaged in the ELI [8].Even in the strongest laser fields the vacuum polarization effects are perturbative because of smallness of the characteristic parameter E/E cr 1. In terms of Feynman diagrams, the largest contribution to vacuum polarization arises from the box diagram, see Fig. 1(a). The depicted diagram with two legs belonging to a constant uniform magnetic field or to an external laser field with a uniform amplitude describes the scattering to zero angle [15] that induces the vacuum refractive index. Thus, in these cases, vacuu...

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Bragg Scattering of Light in Vacuum Structured by Strong Periodic Fields

Kryuchkyan

Hatsagortsyan

2011

Phys. Rev. Lett.

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“…Nonlinear diffraction from virtual beam (NLDVB) was recently demonstrated [24]. Nonlinear diffraction from virtual beam is attractive for autocorrelation measurements since the spectral scale of signal variation in the NLD second harmonic generation is larger than within RQPM for typical NPC SBO structures.…”

Section: Autocorrelation Measurements Using Nonlinear Diffraction Fromentioning

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Applications of Random Nonlinear Photonic Crystals Based on Strontium Tetraborate

2012

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Properties of strontium tetraborate (SBO) and features of as-grown anti-parallel domains are summarized. From the point of view of nonlinear optics, these domains form nonlinear photonic crystals (NPC). Applications of NPC to the deep ultraviolet generation and fs pulse diagnostics are described. NPC and SBO are prospective media for the creation of a widely tunable source of fs pulses in the vacuum ultraviolet and for autocorrelation diagnostics of broadly tunable sources.

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“…Thus, the lattice structure of a medium can significantly (∼ N ) enhance the intensity of the scattered light due to interference of the scattered light generated from different layers of the structure (Bragg scattering) [16]. Note that the Bragg concept is quite general and is applied not only in optics [17] but also in quantum optics [18], atom optics [19] and for matter waves [20].…”

Section: Four-wave Mixing In Structured Vacuummentioning

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Photon-Photon Interaction in Structured Qed Vacuum

Hatsagortsyan

Kryuchkyan

2012

Int. J. Mod. Phys. Conf. Ser.

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In spatially structured strong laser fields, quantum electrodynamical vacuum behaves like a nonlinear Kerr medium with modulated third-order susceptibility where new coherent nonlinear effects arise due to modulation. We consider the enhancement of vacuum polarization and magnetization via coherent spatial vacuum effects in the photon-photon interaction process during scattering of a probe laser beam on parallel focused laser beams. Both processes of elastic and inelastic four wave-mixing in structured QED vacuum accompanied with Bragg interference are investigated. The phase-matching conditions and coherent effects in the presence of Bragg grating are analyzed for photon-photon scattering.

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Nonlinear Diffraction from a Virtual Beam

Cited by 45 publications

References 15 publications

Bragg Scattering of Light in Vacuum Structured by Strong Periodic Fields

Bragg Scattering of Light in Vacuum Structured by Strong Periodic Fields

Applications of Random Nonlinear Photonic Crystals Based on Strontium Tetraborate

Photon-Photon Interaction in Structured Qed Vacuum

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