Strong-Field Breit-Wheeler Pair Production in Short Laser Pulses: Identifying Multiphoton Interference and Carrier-Envelope-Phase Effects

TL;DR

This paper investigates electron-positron pair creation in intense short laser pulses, highlighting multiphoton interference and carrier-envelope-phase effects using a quantum electrodynamics framework and an intuitive spectral model.

Contribution

It introduces a spectral model that explains pair production spectra and identifies interference effects influenced by the laser's carrier-envelope phase.

Findings

Energy spectra explained by multiphoton spectral components

Interference effects depend on carrier-envelope phase

Model predicts characteristic spectral signatures

Abstract

The creation of electron-positron pairs by the strong-field Breit-Wheeler process in intense short laser pulses is investigated in the framework of laser-dressed quantum electrodynamics. Regarding laser field parameters in the multiphoton regime, special attention is brought to the energy spectrum of the created particles, which can be reproduced and explained by means of an intuitive model. The model is based on the probabilities of multiphoton events driven by the spectral components of the laser pulse. It allows, in particular, to identify interferences between different pair production channels which exhibit a characteristic dependence on the laser carrier-envelope phase.