# Electron-positron pair production in oscillating electric fields with double-pulse structure

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how a double-pulse electric field influences electron-positron pair production from vacuum, revealing that pulse timing and asymmetry significantly affect particle spectra and production probabilities.

## Contribution

It introduces a detailed numerical analysis of pair production in double-pulse fields, highlighting the impact of pulse delay and asymmetry on the process.

## Key findings

- Pulse distance affects momentum spectra and total production probability.
- Weak prepulses can leave detectable signatures in particle spectra.
- Asymmetric fields with a weak prepulse and strong main pulse show notable effects.

## Abstract

Electron-positron pair production from vacuum in a strong electric field oscillating in time is studied. The field is assumed to consist of two consecutive pulses, with variable time delay in between. Pair production probabilities are obtained by numerical solution of the corresponding time-dependent Dirac equation. Considering symmetric field configurations comprising two identical pulses, we show that the pulse distance strongly affects the momentum spectra of produced particles and even the total production probability. Conversely, in a highly asymmetric situation when the field contains low-intensity prepulse and high-intensity main pulse, we identify a range of field parameters where the prepulse despite its weakness can leave visible traces in the particle spectra.