Collective behavior of light in vacuum

Abstract

Under the action of light-by-light scattering, light beams show collective behaviors in vacuum. For instance, in the case of two counterpropagating laser beams with specific initial helicity, the polarization of each beam oscillates periodically between the left and right helicity. Furthermore, the amplitudes and the corresponding intensities of each polarization propagate like waves. Such polarization waves might be observationally accessible in future laser experiments, in a physical regime complementary to those explored by particle accelerators.