LUXE: A new experiment to study non-perturbative QED in $e^-$-laser and $\gamma$-laser collisions

TL;DR

LUXE is a planned experiment at DESY Hamburg aiming to explore non-perturbative QED phenomena, such as electron-positron pair creation, using high-intensity laser and electron or photon beams.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental setup to study strong-field QED and search for physics beyond the Standard Model at unprecedented laser intensities.

Findings

Measurement of positron production rate at high laser intensities

Observation of non-perturbative QED effects in laser-electron collisions

Potential to discover new physics beyond the Standard Model

Abstract

The LUXE experiment (Laser Und XFEL Experiment) is a new experiment in planning at DESY Hamburg using the electron beam of the European XFEL. At LUXE, the aim is to study collisions between a high-intensity optical laser and up to $16.5\,$GeV electrons from the Eu.XFEL electron beam, or, alternatively, high-energy secondary photons. The physics objectives of LUXE are to measure processes of Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) at the strong-field frontier, where QED is non-perturbative. This manifests itself in the creation of physical electron-positron pairs from the QED vacuum. LUXE intends to measure the positron production rate in a new physics regime at an unprecedented laser intensity. Additionally, the high-intensity Compton photon beam of LUXE can be used to search for physics beyond the Standard Model.