Proof-of-principle experiment for the dark-field detection concept for measuring vacuum birefringence
Vacuum fluctuations give rise to effective nonlinear interactions between electromagnetic fields. These generically modify the characteristics of light traversing a strong-field region. X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) constitute a particularly promising probe, due to their brilliance, the possibility of precise control and favorable frequency scaling. However, the nonlinear vacuum response is very small even when probing a tightly focused high-intensity laser field with XFEL radiation and direct measurement of light-by-light scattering of real photons and the associated fundamental physics constants of the quantum vacuum has not been possible to date. Achieving a sufficiently good signal-to-background separation is key to a successful quantum vacuum experiment. To master this challenge, a dark-field detection concept has recently been proposed. Here we present the results of a proof-of-principle experiment validating this approach by demonstrating that using real-world x-ray optics the background signal can be suppressed sufficiently to measure the weak nonlinear response of the vacuum.
Authors
- Pooyan Khademi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0818-4134)
- E. Weckert
- T. Toncian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7986-3631)
- Willi Hippler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-9144-6268)
- V. Hájková (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0776-6012)
- Michal Šmíd (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7162-7500)
- P. Hilz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8081-9328)
- C. Wessel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0959-4784)
- Lisa Randolph (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9587-404X)
- Th. Stöhlker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0461-3560)
- Aimé Matheron (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4621-260X)
- L. Juha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4189-8753)
- J. Grenzer
- Oliver Humphries (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6748-0422)
- G. G. Paulus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8343-8811)
- Felix Karbstein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2239-1789)
- Šimon Jelínek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1999-811X)
- E. Brambrink (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2404-9412)
- R. Lötzsch
- Hans-Peter Schlenvoigt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4400-1315)
- Sebastian Göde
- Matt Zepf
- A. Sävert
- Alzbeta Horynova
Institutions
- Helmholtz Institute Jena (DE)
- GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research (DE)
- Czech Academy of Sciences (CZ)
- Charles University (CZ)
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (DE)
- Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY (DE)
- National Institute for Laser Plasma and Radiation Physics (RO)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Plasma Physics (CZ)
- Laser & Plasma Technologies (United States) (US)
- Czech Technical University in Prague (CZ)
- Friedrich Schiller University Jena (DE)
- Technische Universität Dresden (DE)
- European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. A/Physical review, A
- Published
- 2025-11-10
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/xpxy-ntwz
- Primary Topic
- Calibration and Measurement Techniques
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00