Quantum processes in a two-mode laser field

Abstract

The probabilities of the emission of a photon by an electron and e + e −-pair photoproduction in a field which is a superposition of two electromagnetic plane waves with different frequencies and propagating in the same direction are obtained. The case where the frequencies of the two modes are commensurate is studied in detail. This case is interesting primarily because of the existence of effects due to the interference of amplitudes, corresponding to a different number of photons absorbed from different modes but having the same total 4-momentum. It is shown that the optimal field for observing interference effects is a field such that the ratio of the mode frequencies is 3. The probabilities of radiation and pair-photoproduction processes in the field of a monochromatic plane wave and in a two-mode field, obtained by splitting the initial wave into two waves, are compared. It is shown that the total probability of the emission of a photon by an electron in a two-mode field is lower than and the probability of pair photoproduction is higher than the probabilities of the same processes in the initial wave. The increase in the pair-photoproduction probability is explained by the fact that additional channels for reactions which are forbidden in the initial monochromatic field open up in a two-mode field.