Orbital angular momentum coupling in elastic photon-photon scattering

R. Aboushelbaya, K. Glize, A. F. Savin, M. Mayr, B. Spiers, R. Wang, J. Collier, M. Marklund, R. M. G. M. Trines, R. Bingham, P. A. Norreys

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17 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

In this Letter, we investigate the effect of orbital angular momentum (OAM) on elastic photon-photon scattering in a vacuum for the first time. We define exact solutions to the vacuum electromagnetic wave equation which carry OAM. Using those, the expected coupling between three initial waves is derived in the framework of an effective field theory based on the Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangian and shows that OAM adds a signature to the generated photons thereby greatly improving the signal-to-noise ratio. This forms the basis for a proposed high-power laser experiment utilizing quantum optics techniques to filter the generated photons based on their OAM state.
Original languageEnglish
Article number113604
Number of pages5
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume123
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 Sept 2019

Keywords

  • photon-photon scattering
  • orbital angular momentum
  • vacuum electromagnetic wave equation

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