TY - JOUR
AU - Ahmadiniaz, N.
AU - Bähtz, C.
AU - Benediktovitch, A.
AU - Bömer, C.
AU - Bocklage, L.
AU - Cowan, T. E.
AU - Edwards, J.
AU - Evans, S.
AU - Viñas, S. Franchino
AU - Gies, H.
AU - Göde, S.
AU - Görs, J.
AU - Grenzer, J.
AU - Hernandez Acosta, U.
AU - Heinzl, T.
AU - Hilz, P.
AU - Hippler, W.
AU - Huang, L. G.
AU - Humphries, O.
AU - Karbstein, Felix
AU - Khademi, P.
AU - King, B.
AU - Kluge, T.
AU - Kohlfürst, C.
AU - Krebs, D.
AU - Laso-García, A.
AU - Lötzsch, R.
AU - Macleod, A. J.
AU - Marx-Glowna, B.
AU - Mosman, E. A.
AU - Nakatsutsumi, M.
AU - Paulus, G. G.
AU - Rahul, S. V.
AU - Randolph, L.
AU - Röhlsberger, R.
AU - Rohringer, N.
AU - Sävert, A.
AU - Sadashivaiah, S.
AU - Sauerbrey, R.
AU - Schlenvoigt, H.-P.
AU - Schmidt, S. M.
AU - Schramm, U.
AU - Schützhold, R.
AU - Schwinkendorf, J.-P.
AU - Seipt, D.
AU - Šmíd, M.
AU - Stöhlker, T.
AU - Toncian, T.
AU - Valialshchikov, M.
AU - Wipf, A.
AU - Zastrau, U.
AU - Zepf, M.
TI - Towards a vacuum birefringence experiment at the Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields (Letter of Intent of the BIREF@HIBEF Collaboration)
JO - High power laser science and engineering
VL - 13
IS - arXiv:2405.18063
SN - 2095-4719
CY - Cambridge
PB - Cambridge Univ. Press
M1 - PUBDB-2025-00639
M1 - arXiv:2405.18063
M1 - arXiv:2405.18063
SP - e7
PY - 2025
N1 - 31 pages, 21 figures
AB - 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.
KW - birefringence: vacuum (INSPIRE)
KW - electromagnetic field: high (INSPIRE)
KW - quantum electrodynamics: nonlinear (INSPIRE)
KW - polarization: monitoring (INSPIRE)
KW - laser: infrared (INSPIRE)
KW - free electron laser: X-ray (INSPIRE)
KW - optics (INSPIRE)
KW - precision measurement (INSPIRE)
KW - experimental methods (INSPIRE)
KW - light-by-light scattering (autogen)
KW - vacuum birefringence (autogen)
KW - vacuum polarization (autogen)
LB - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
DO - DOI:10.1017/hpl.2024.70
UR - https://bib-pubdb1.desy.de/record/623178
ER -