Prospects for studying vacuum polarisation using dipole and synchrotron radiation

TL;DR

This paper explores two innovative experimental setups using optical and x-ray lasers to measure vacuum birefringence, focusing on converging dipole pulses and synchrotron-like emissions from energetic particles.

Contribution

It introduces two alternative methods for studying vacuum polarisation effects, expanding experimental options beyond traditional approaches.

Findings

Feasibility of using converging dipole pulses for vacuum birefringence measurement.

Proposal of synchrotron-like emission from energetic particles as a probe.

Potential application at ELI-NP facility.

Abstract

The measurement of vacuum polarisation effects, in particular vacuum birefringence, using combined optical and x-ray laser pulses is now actively pursued. Here we briefly examine the feasibility of two alternative setups. The first utilises an alternative target, namely a converging dipole pulse, and the second uses an alternative probe, namely the synchrotron-like emission from highly energetic particles, themselves interacting with a laser pulse. The latter setup has been proposed for experiments at ELI-NP.