Vacuum high harmonic generation in the shock regime

Understand

Electrodynamics becomes nonlinear and permits the self-interaction of fields when the quantised nature of vacuum states is taken into account.

• The effect on a plane probe pulse propagating through a stronger constant crossed background is calculated using numerical simulation and by analytically solving the corresponding wave equation.
• The electromagnetic shock resulting from vacuum high harmonic generation is investigated and a nonlinear shock parameter identified.