Pair Production in Circularly Polarized Waves

TL;DR

This paper investigates electron-positron pair creation in circularly polarized laser fields using the Wigner formalism, revealing how polarization influences the momentum distribution and helicity transfer during multiphoton pair production.

Contribution

It provides a detailed spectroscopic analysis of pair production in circularly polarized fields and offers new insights into polarization effects and helicity transfer mechanisms.

Findings

Identification of polarization signatures in positron momentum distributions

High-resolution momentum maps revealing kinematic effects

Insights into helicity transfer during multiphoton pair production

Abstract

We study electron-positron pair production within two counter-propagating, circularly polarized electromagnetic fields through the Wigner formalism. We numerically generate high-resolution momentum maps to perform a detailed spectroscopic analysis. We identify signatures of polarization and kinematics of the incident fields in the final positron distribution and, on this basis, provide an intuitive picture of helicity transfer in multiphoton pair production.