Polarization of the electron and positron produced in combined Coulomb and strong laser fields

Understand

The process of $e^+e^-$ production in the superposition of a Coulomb and a strong laser field is considered.

• The pair production rate integrated over the momentum and summed over the spin projections of one of the particles is derived exactly in the parameters of the laser field and in the Born approximation with respect to the Coulomb field.
• The case of a monochromatic circularly polarized laser field is considered in detail.
• A very compact analytical expression of the pair production rate and its dependence on the polarization of one of the created particles is obtained in the quasiclassical approximation for the experimentally relevant case of an undercritical laser field.