Measuring vacuum polarization with high-power lasers

Abstract

When exposed to intense electromagnetic fields, the quantum vacuum is expected to exhibit properties of a polarizable medium akin to a weakly nonlinear dielectric material. Various schemes have been proposed to measure such vacuum polarization effects using a combination of high-power lasers. Motivated by several planned experiments, we provide an overview of experimental signatures that have been suggested to confirm this prediction of quantum electrodynamics of real photon-photon scattering.