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Ramsey Fringes and Time-Domain Multiple-Slit Interference from Vacuum

Eric Akkermans and Gerald V. Dunne
Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 030401 – Published 18 January 2012

Abstract

Sequences of alternating-sign time-dependent electric field pulses lead to coherent interference effects in Schwinger vacuum pair production, producing a Ramsey interferometer, an all-optical time-domain realization of the multiple-slit interference effect, directly from the quantum vacuum. The interference, obeying fermionic quantum statistics, is manifest in the momentum dependence of the number of produced electrons and positrons along the linearly polarized electric field. The central value grows like N2 for N pulses [i.e., N “slits”], and the functional form is well described by a coherent multiple-slit expression. This behavior is generic for many driven quantum systems.

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  • Received 12 September 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.030401

© 2012 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Eric Akkermans1 and Gerald V. Dunne2

  • 1Department of Physics, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, 32000 Haifa, Israel
  • 2Department of Physics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269-3046, USA

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Issue

Vol. 108, Iss. 3 — 20 January 2012

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