Interferences effects in polarized nonlinear Breit-Wheeler process

Abstract

The creation of polarized electron-positron pairs by the nonlinear Breit-Wheeler process in short laser pulses is investigated using the Baier-Katkov semiclassical method beyond local-constant-field approximation (LCFA), which allows for identifying the interferences effects in the positron polarization. When the laser intensity is in the intermediate %multiphoton regime, the interferences of pair production in different formation lengths induce an enhancement of pair production probability for spin-down positrons, which significantly affects the polarization of created positrons. The polarization features are distinct from that obtained with LCFA, revealing the invalidity of LCFA in this regime. Meanwhile, the angular distribution for different spin states varies, resulting in an angular-dependent polarization of positrons. The average polarization of positrons at beam center is highly sensitive to the laser's carrier-envelope phase (CEP), which provides a potential alternative way of determining the CEP of strong lasers. The verification of the observed interference phenomenon is possible for the upcoming experiments.