Vacuum Birefringence Measurement via All-Optical Interferometric Schemes

Abstract

All-optical vacuum birefringence experiments will get increasingly closer to feasibility as multi-petawatt laser facilities become operational around the World. Thus, the availability of focused laser intensities in the order of IL ∼ 1022 −1024 W/cm2 are to be expected in a focused spot size ∼ 3 − 5 μm. With these values, vacuum refraction indices in the order of Δn ∼ 10−11 − 10−9 are possible with an induced phase delay on a counterpropagating optical probe beam in the order of Δφ ∼ 10−9 −10−7 radians. We discuss two all-optical interferometric schemes and detail the Mach-Zender interferometric proposal. We consider this interferometric scheme fed by both classical and non-classical input light and with two detection schemes. We outline scenarios that are likely to lead to a feasible experimental implementation.