Spatial and temporal dynamics of matter in intense laser fields

Board Of Trustees Of Illinois State University, Normal IL

Investigators

Abstract

This project aims at providing a better understanding of the non-perturbative interaction of matter with laser pulses or external fields. In each of the three project groups, the understanding of the nonlinear quantum dynamics will be advanced primarily with the aid of computer simulations to allow for spatial and temporal resolution. It is also an aim of the research to explore new concepts and tools that could stimulate further theoretical and experimental interest. The first sequence of projects focuses on new phenomena that occur if laser fields are sufficiently intense either to trigger or affect the creation of electron-positron pairs from vacuum. The studies will build on a computational technique that has been developed by the PIs to solve the quantum field theoretical equations in space-time. The second sequence of projects examines the spatially resolved electron-photon-electron interaction and searches for the origin of the Coulomb force. It is based on a non-unitary quantum mechanical formalism that allows the computation to be carried out. The third sequence of projects explores theoretically as well as experimentally the propagation of laser fields through heterogeneous dielectric random media.