Quasiclassical approach to high-energy QED processes in strong laser and atomic fields

Abstract

An approach, based on the use of the quasiclassical Greenʼs function, is developed for investigating high-energy quantum electrodynamical processes in combined strong laser and atomic fields. Employing an operator technique, we derive the Greenʼs function of the Dirac equation in an arbitrary plane wave and a localized potential. Then, we calculate the total cross section of high-energy electron–positron photoproduction in an atomic field of arbitrary charge number (Bethe–Heitler process) in the presence of a strong laser field. It is shown that the laser field substantially modifies the cross section at already available incoming photon energies and laser parameters. This makes it feasible in principle to observe with present technology the analogous effect in a laser field of the Landau–Pomeranchuk–Migdal effect for the Bethe–Heitler process.