Positron Production in Multiphoton Light-by-Light Scattering

D. L. Burke, R. C. Field, G. Horton-Smith, J. E. Spencer, D. Walz, S. C. Berridge, W. M. Bugg, K. Shmakov, A. W. Weidemann, C. Bula, K. T. McDonald, E. J. Prebys, C. Bamber, S. J. Boege, T. Koffas, T. Kotseroglou, A. C. Melissinos, D. D. Meyerhofer, D. A. Reis, and W. Ragg
Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 1626 – Published 1 September 1997
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Abstract

A signal of 106±14 positrons above background has been observed in collisions of a low-emittance 46.6 GeV electron beam with terawatt pulses from a Nd:glass laser at 527 nm wavelength in an experiment at the Final Focus Test Beam at SLAC. The positrons are interpreted as arising from a two-step process in which laser photons are backscattered to GeV energies by the electron beam followed by a collision between the high-energy photon and several laser photons to produce an electron-positron pair. These results are the first laboratory evidence for inelastic light-by-light scattering involving only real photons.

  • Received 2 June 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.79.1626

©1997 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

D. L. Burke, R. C. Field, G. Horton-Smith, J. E. Spencer, and D. Walz

  • Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94309

S. C. Berridge, W. M. Bugg, K. Shmakov, and A. W. Weidemann

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996

C. Bula, K. T. McDonald, and E. J. Prebys

  • Joseph Henry Laboratories, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544

C. Bamber, S. J. Boege, T. Koffas, T. Kotseroglou, A. C. Melissinos, D. D. Meyerhofer, D. A. Reis, and W. Ragg

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627

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Vol. 79, Iss. 9 — 1 September 1997

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