Limitations on the attainable intensity of high power lasers

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that creating a laser field at the critical QED strength inevitably leads to an avalanche of electron-positron pairs, preventing the attainment of such high intensities and confirming Bohr's conjecture.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical analysis showing that super strong laser fields trigger QED cascades, establishing a fundamental limit on laser intensity.

Findings

Single pair creation triggers cascade development

Laser pulse depletion occurs rapidly due to pair production

Critical QED field strength remains unattainable

Abstract

It is shown that even a single $e^-e^+$ pair created by a super strong laser field in vacuum would cause development of an avalanche-like QED cascade which rapidly depletes the incoming laser pulse. This confirms the old N. Bohr conjecture that the electric field of the critical QED strength $E_S=m^2c^3/e\hbar$ could never be created.