Coherent combs of anti-matter from nonlinear electron-positron pair creation

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that modulated laser pulses can produce coherent comb structures in the energy spectra of electron-positron pairs via the nonlinear Breit-Wheeler process, revealing wave-like interference effects in antimatter creation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to generate coherent combs in antimatter spectra using laser pulse modulation, highlighting wave interference in pair creation.

Findings

Modulated laser pulses produce comb structures in positron and electron energy spectra.

Coherent enhancement of pair creation probability from different pulse modulations.

Resemblance to Young's double-slit experiment for antimatter waves.

Abstract

Electron-positron pair creation in collisions of a modulated laser pulse with a high-energy photon (nonlinear Breit-Wheeler process) is studied by means of strong-field quantum electrodynamics. It is shown that the driving pulse modulations lead to appearance of comb structures in the energy spectra of produced positrons (electrons). It is demonstrated that these combs result from a coherent enhancement of probability amplitudes of pair creation from different modulations of the laser pulse. Thus, resembling the Young-double slit experiment for anti-matter (matter) waves.