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Phys. Rev. D 60, 092004 (1999) [43 pages]

Studies of nonlinear QED in collisions of 46.6 GeV electrons with intense laser pulses

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C. Bamber*, S. J. Boege†, T. Koffas, T. Kotseroglou‡, A. C. Melissinos, D. D. Meyerhofer§, D. A. Reis, and W. Ragg**
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627

C. Bula††, K. T. McDonald, and E. J. Prebys
Joseph Henry Laboratories, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544

D. L. Burke, R. C. Field, G. Horton-Smith‡‡, J. E. Spencer, and D. Walz
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94309

S. C. Berridge, W. M. Bugg, K. Shmakova, and A. W. Weidemann
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996

Received 1 February 1999; published 8 October 1999

We report on measurements of quantum electrodynamic processes in an intense electromagnetic wave, where nonlinear effects (both multiphoton and vacuum polarization) are prominent. Nonlinear Compton scattering and electron-positron pair production have been observed in collisions of 46.6 GeV and 49.1 GeV electrons of the Final Focus Test Beam at SLAC with terawatt pulses of 1053 nm and 527 nm wavelengths from a Nd:glass laser. Peak laser intensities of ≈0.5×1018W/cm2 have been achieved, corresponding to a value of ≈0.4 for the parameter η=eErms/mω0c and to a value of ≈0.25 for the parameter Υe=Erms⋆/Ecrit=eErms⋆ħ/m2c3, where Erms⋆ is the rms electric field strength of the laser in the electron rest frame. We present data on the scattered electron spectra arising from nonlinear Compton scattering with up to four photons absorbed from the field. A convolved spectrum of the forward high energy photons is also given. The observed positron production rate depends on the fifth power of the laser intensity, as expected for a process where five photons are absorbed from the field. The positrons are interpreted as arising from the collision of a high-energy Compton scattered photon with the laser beam. The results are found to be in agreement with theoretical predictions.

© 1999 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevD.60.092004
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevD.60.092004
PACS:
13.40.-f, 12.20.Fv, 13.10.+q, 42.65.-k

*Present address: ELCAN Optical Technologies Ltd., Midland, Ontario, Canada L4R 2H2.

†Present address: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94551.

‡Present address: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94309.

§Also Department of Mechanical Engineering.

**Present address: Panoramastrasse 8, 78589 Durbheim, Germany.

††Present address: Swisslog Software AG, CH-5001 Aarau, Switzerland.

‡‡Present address: Research Center for Neutrino Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan 980-0845.

aPresent address: Globalstar, San Jose, CA 95164.

 
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