Light bullets and optical collapse in vacuum

Details Light bullets and optical collapse in vacuum Light bullets and optical collapse in vacuum

2002-04-04

arxiv.org/abs/physics/0204013v2

Phys.Lett. A306 (2003) 206-210

Physics

Optics

7 pages, to appear in Phys. Lett. A

Scientific paper

10.1016/S0375-9601(02)01512-8

In quantum electrodynamics, photon--photon scattering can be the result of the exchange of virtual electron--positron pairs. Effectively, this gives rise to self-interaction terms in Maxwell's equations, similar to the nonlinearities due to polarization in nonlinear optics. These self-interaction terms vanish in the limit of parallel propagating waves. However if the modes generated in bounded regions are used, there will be a non-zero total effect. We show that stationary two-dimensional light bullets can form in guiding structures, due to the balancing effect of quantum electrodynamical vacuum nonlinearities on dispersion and diffraction. These light bullets are unstable and exhibit the possibility of self-focusing collapse. The consequences of our results are also discussed.

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