Towards a vacuum birefringence experiment at the Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields (Letter of Intent of the BIREF@HIBEF Collaboration)

Quantum field theory predicts a nonlinear response of the vacuum to strong electromagnetic fields of macroscopic extent. This fundamental tenet has remained experimentally challenging and is yet to be tested in the laboratory. A particularly distinct signature of the resulting optical activity of th...

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Main Authors:	N. Ahmadiniaz, C. Bähtz, A. Benediktovitch, C. Bömer, L. Bocklage, T. E. Cowan, J. Edwards, S. Evans, S. Franchino Viñas, H. Gies, S. Göde, J. Görs, J. Grenzer, U. Hernandez Acosta, T. Heinzl, P. Hilz, W. Hippler, L. G. Huang, O. Humphries, F. Karbstein, P. Khademi, B. King, T. Kluge, C. Kohlfürst, D. Krebs, A. Laso-García, R. Lötzsch, A. J. Macleod, B. Marx-Glowna, E. A. Mosman, M. Nakatsutsumi, G. G. Paulus, S. V. Rahul, L. Randolph, R. Röhlsberger, N. Rohringer, A. Sävert, S. Sadashivaiah, R. Sauerbrey, H.-P. Schlenviogt, S. M. Schmidt, U. Schramm, R. Schützhold, J.-P. Schwinkendorf, D. Seipt, M. Šmíd, T. Stöhlker, T. Toncian, M. Valialshchikov, A. Wipf, U. Zastrau, M. Zepf
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Cambridge University Press 2025-01-01
Series:	High Power Laser Science and Engineering
Subjects:	light-by-light scattering vacuum birefringence vacuum polarization
Online Access:	https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2095471924000707/type/journal_article
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Summary:	Quantum field theory predicts a nonlinear response of the vacuum to strong electromagnetic fields of macroscopic extent. This fundamental tenet has remained experimentally challenging and is yet to be tested in the laboratory. A particularly distinct signature of the resulting optical activity of the quantum vacuum is vacuum birefringence. This offers an excellent opportunity for a precision test of nonlinear quantum electrodynamics in an uncharted parameter regime. Recently, the operation of the high-intensity Relativistic Laser at the X-ray Free Electron Laser provided by the Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields has been inaugurated at the High Energy Density scientific instrument of the European X-ray Free Electron Laser. We make the case that this worldwide unique combination of an X-ray free-electron laser and an ultra-intense near-infrared laser together with recent advances in high-precision X-ray polarimetry, refinements of prospective discovery scenarios and progress in their accurate theoretical modelling have set the stage for performing an actual discovery experiment of quantum vacuum nonlinearity.
ISSN:	2095-4719 2052-3289

Towards a vacuum birefringence experiment at the Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields (Letter of Intent of the BIREF@HIBEF Collaboration)

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