Classical Dynamics of Free Electromagnetic Laser Pulses

TL;DR

This paper presents exact finite energy solutions to Maxwell's equations that model laser pulses, useful for simulations and exploring fundamental physics in generalized electrodynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a new class of solutions classified by chirality, enhancing modeling of laser pulses and enabling experimental bounds on fundamental length scales.

Findings

Provides a computationally efficient parameterization of laser pulses.

Classifies solutions based on their chirality content.

Suggests potential for experimental bounds on generalized electrodynamics.

Abstract

We discuss a class of exact finite energy solutions to the vacuum source-free Maxwell field equations as models for multi- and single cycle laser pulses in classical interaction with relativistic charged test particles. These solutions are classified in terms of their chiral content based on their influence on particular charge configurations in space. Such solutions offer a computationally efficient parameterization of compact laser pulses used in laser-matter simulations and provide a potential means for experimentally bounding the fundamental length scale in the generalized electrodynamics of Bopp, Lande and Podolsky.