Photon-photon Interactions Research Articles

Low-p_{T} e^{+}e^{-} Pair Production in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 GeV and U+U Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=193 GeV at STAR.

We report first measurements of e^{+}e^{-} pair production in the mass region 0.4<M_{ee}<2.6 GeV/c^{2} at low transverse momentum (p_{T}<0.15 GeV/c) in noncentral Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 GeV and U+U collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=193 GeV. Significant enhancement factors, expressed as ratios of data over known hadronic contributions, are observed in the 40%-80% centrality of these collisions. The excess yields peak distinctly at low p_{T} with a width (sqrt[⟨p_{T}^{2}⟩]) between 40 and 60 MeV/c. The absolute cross section of the excess depends weakly on centrality, while those from a theoretical model calculation incorporating an in-medium broadened ρ spectral function and radiation from a quark gluon plasma or hadronic cocktail contributions increase dramatically with an increasing number of participant nucleons. Model calculations of photon-photon interactions generated by the initial projectile and target nuclei describe the observed excess yields but fail to reproduce the p_{T}^{2} distributions.

Implications of CMS analysis of photon-photon interactions for photon PDFs**Supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (PHY-1417326, PHY-1719914) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11465018)

As part of a recent analysis of exclusive two-photon production of W+W− pairs at the LHC, the CMS experiment used di-lepton data to obtain an “effective” photon-photon luminosity. We show how the CMS analysis on their 8 TeV data, along with some assumptions about the likelihood for events in which the proton breaks up to pass the selection criteria, can be used to significantly constrain the photon parton distribution functions, such as those from the CTEQ, MRST, and NNPDF collaborations. We compare the data with predictions using these photon distributions, as well as the new LUXqed photon distribution. We study the impact of including these data on the NNPDF2.3QED, NNPDF3.0QED and CT14QEDinc fits. We find that these data place a useful and complementary cross-check on the photon distribution, which is consistent with the LUXqed prediction while suggesting that the NNPDF photon error band should be significantly reduced. Additionally, we propose a simple model for describing the two-photon production of W+W− at the LHC. Using this model, we constrain the number of inelastic photons that remain after the experimental cuts are applied.

Dispersion and lasing characteristics of cross-coupled resonances in composite-cavity microresonators

We report on composite-cavity microresonators comprising a vertical cavity and a distributed feedback structure. First-order diffraction on the second-order Bragg grating serves as coupling mechanism between the two resonator elements. Employing the broad emission spectrum of the small molecule system ${\mathrm{Alq}}_{3}$:DCM, dispersion characteristics of multiple resonances are recorded in continuously tunable devices and related to calculated resonances and their field profiles. In combination with the analysis of input-output measurements, the lasing characteristics of vertical and lateral resonances are controlled by adjusting specific design parameters of the system. For identical resonance energies, the distinct resonators show coherent interaction in the cross-coupled configuration, if the quality of the resonances and the cross-coupling efficiency meet the condition of strong photon-photon interaction. This resonant coupling has a fundamental impact on dispersion and lasing characteristics of the system.

Corrections of two-photon interactions in the fine and hyperfine structure of the P-energy levels of muonic hydrogen

In the framework of the quasipotential method in quantum electrodynamics we calculate corrections to the nuclear structure proportional to $r_N^2$ from two-photon exchange amplitudes in the fine and hyperfine structure of P-states in muonic hydrogen, as well as the photon-photon interaction amplitudes, leading to the exchange of the axial vector meson. In constructing the quasipotential of the muon-nucleus interaction, we use the method of projection operators on states of two particles with a definite spin and total angular momentum. Analytical calculation of the matrix elements is performed and contributions to the fine and hyperfine structure of the $2P_{1/2}$ and $2P_{3/2}$ levels are obtained.

Photon thermalization via laser cooling of atoms

Laser cooling of atomic motion enables a wide variety of technological and scientific explorations using cold atoms. Here we focus on the effect of laser cooling on the photons instead of on the atoms. Specifically, we show that non-interacting photons can thermalize with the atoms to a grand canonical ensemble with a non-zero chemical potential. This thermalization is accomplished via scattering of light between different optical modes, mediated by the laser cooling process. While optically thin modes lead to traditional laser cooling of the atoms, the dynamics of multiple scattering in optically thick modes has been more challenging to describe. We find that in an appropriate set of limits, multiple scattering leads to thermalization of the light with the atomic motion in a manner that approximately conserves total photon number between the laser beams and optically thick modes. In this regime, the subsystem corresponding to the thermalized modes is describable by a grand canonical ensemble with a chemical potential set by the energy of a single laser photon. We consider realization of this regime using two-level atoms in Doppler cooling, and find physically realistic conditions for rare earth atoms. With the addition of photon-photon interactions, this system could provide a new platform for exploring many-body physics.

Generation of photonic Cooper pairs in nanoscale optomechanical waveguides

In this paper we theoretically show that counterpart photonic Cooper pairs can be achieved in nanoscale waveguides with radiation pressure effect. We demonstrate that due to Brillouin scattering a Stokes photon and an anti-Stokes one can exchange virtual phonons, leading to an effective photon-photon interaction. The effective interaction Hamiltonian of the two photons is identical to that for electrons in the BCS theory, and the photonic counterpart of the superconducting energy gap can appear. Quite different from the conventional stimulated Brillouin scattering the number of photon pairs can be amplified. The result could be used as a photon-pair laser and might have a possible application in integrated optics and quantum information processing in the future.

Is the GeV-TeV emission of PKS 0447-439 from the proton synchrotron radiation?

We study the multi-wavelength emission features of PKS 0447-439 in the frame of the one-zone homogeneous lepto-hadronic model. In this model, we assumed that the steady power-laws with exponential cut-offs distributions of protons and electrons are injected into the source. The non-linear time-dependent kinematic equations, describing the evolution of protons, electrons and photons, are defined; these equations self-consistently involve synchrotron radiation of protons, photon-photon interaction, synchrotron radiation of electron/positron pairs, inverse Compton scattering and synchrotron self-absorption. The model is applied to reproduce the multi-wavelength spectrum of PKS 0447-439. Our results indicate that the spectral energy distribution (SED) of PKS 0447-439 can be reproduced well by the model. In particular, the GeV-TeV emission is produced by the synchrotron radiation of relativistic protons. The physically plausible solutions require the magnetic strength $10~\text{G}\lesssim B \lesssim 100~\text{G}$ . We found that the observed spectrum of PKS 0447-439 can be reproduced well by the model whether $z = 0.16$ or $z = 0.2$ , and the acceptable upper limit of redshift is $z=0.343$ .

Engineering Photon-Photon Interactions within Rubidium-Filled Waveguides

Strong photon-photon interactions are a key requirement for numerous protocols in quantum computing and communication. Generation of these interactions mediated by atomic vapor in a hollow waveguide has shown great promise, with efficiency enhanced by the tight transverse confinement and extended interaction length in the optical fiber. The authors investigate the strength of such interactions in a series of hollow-core photonic-crystal fibers, and show that they scale only with optical-mode diameter, not mode area (as might be expected). This insight allows targeting of specific photon-photon interaction strengths in waveguide design.

Transmission and correlation of a two-photon pulse in a one-dimensional waveguide coupled with quantum emitters

Transmission and correlation properties of a two-photon pulse are studied in a one-dimensional waveguide (1DW) in the presence of three types of quantum emitters: two-level atom (TLA), side optical cavity (SOC), and Jaynes-Cummings model (JCM). Since there are many plane-wave components for a two-photon pulse, a nonlinear waveguide dispersion is used instead of the linearized one. The two-photon transmission spectra become flatter with decreasing the pulse width. With respect to the $\ensuremath{\delta}$ coupling between the 1DW and quantum emitter the transmission dips show a blueshift for the non-$\ensuremath{\delta}$ one and the blueshift first increases and then decreases with increasing the width of the coupling. The TLA and JCM can induce an effective photon-photon interaction that depends on the distance between the two photons, while the SOC cannot. We show that the 1DW coupled with the TLA or JCM is able to evaluate the overlap of the two photons and that the non-$\ensuremath{\delta}$ coupling has potential for controlling the two-photon correlation.

Generation of circular polarization in CMB radiation via nonlinear photon-photon interaction

Standard cosmological models do predict a measurable amount of anisotropies in the intensity and linear polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB) via Thomson scattering, even though these theoretical models do not predict circular polarization for CMB radiation. In other hand, the circular polarization of CMB has not been excluded in observational evidences. Here we estimate the circular polarization power spectrum $C_{l}^{V(S)}$ in CMB radiation due to Compton scattering and non-linear photon-photon forward scattering via Euler-Heisenberg Effective Lagrangian. We have estimated the average value of circular power spectrum is $1(l+1)\,C_{l}^{V(S)}/(2\pi)\sim 10^{-4}\mu\,K^2$ for $l\sim300$ at present time which is smaller than recently reported data (SPIDER collaboration) but in the range of the future achievable experimental data. We also show that the generation of B-mode polarization for CMB photons in the presence of the primordial scalar perturbation via Euler-Heisenberg interaction is possible however this contribution for B-mode polarization is not remarkable.

Studies of discrete symmetries in decays of positronium atoms

A positronium - a bound state of electron and positron - is an eigenstate of parity and charge conjugation operators which decays into photons. It is a unique laboratory to study discrete symmetries whose precision is limited, in principle, by the effects due to the weak interactions expected at the level of 10−14 and photon-photon interactions expected at the level of 10−9. The Jagiellonian Positron Emission Tomograph (J-PET) is a detector for medical imaging as well as for physics studies involving detection of electronpositron annihilation into photons. The physics case covers the areas of discrete symmetries studies and genuine multipartite entanglement. The J-PET detector has high angular and time resolution and allows for determination of spin of the positronium and the momenta and polarization vectors of annihilation quanta. In this article, we present the potential of the J-PET system for studies of discrete symmetries in decays of positronium atoms.

Analog curved spacetimes in the reversed dissipation regime of cavity optomechanics

In this paper, we theoretically propose an optomechanical scheme to explore the possibility of simulating the propagation of the collective excitations of the photon fluid in a curved spacetime. For this purpose, we introduce two theoretical models for two-dimensional photon gas in a planar optomechanical microcavity and a two-dimensional array of coupled optomechanical systems. In the reversed dissipation regime (RDR) of cavity optomechanics where the mechanical oscillator reaches equilibrium with its thermal reservoir much faster than the cavity modes, the mechanical degrees of freedom can adiabatically be eliminated. The adiabatic elimination of the mechanical mode provides an effective nonlinear Kerr-type photon-photon interaction. Using the nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation (NLSE), we show that the phase fluctuations in the two-dimensional photon fluid obey the Klein-Gordon equation for a massless scalar field propagating in a curved spacetime. The results reveal that the photon fluid as well as the corresponding metric can be controlled by manipulating the system parameters.

Photonic Counterparts of Cooper Pairs.

The microscopic theory of superconductivity raised the disruptive idea that electrons couple through the elusive exchange of virtual phonons, overcoming the strong Coulomb repulsion to form Cooper pairs. Light is also known to interact with atomic vibrations, as, for example, in the Raman effect. We show that photon pairs exchange virtual vibrations in transparent media, leading to an effective photon-photon interaction identical to that for electrons in the BCS theory of superconductivity, in spite of the fact that photons are bosons. In this scenario, photons may exchange energy without matching a quantum of vibration of the medium. As a result, pair correlations for photons scattered away from the Raman resonances are expected to be enhanced. An experimental demonstration of this effect is provided here by time-correlated Raman measurements in different media. The experimental data confirm our theoretical interpretation of a photonic Cooper pairing, without the need for any fitting parameters.

Nonlinear QED effects in X-ray emission of pulsars

In the presence of strong magnetic fields near pulsars, the QED vacuum becomes a birefringent medium due to nonlinear QED interactions. Here, we explore the impact of the effective photon-photon interaction on the polarization evolution of photons propagating through the magnetized QED vacuum of a pulsar. We solve the quantum Boltzmann equation within the framework of the Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangian to find the evolution of the Stokes parameters. We find that linearly polarized X-ray photons propagating outward in the magnetosphere of a rotating neutron star can acquire high values for the circular polarization parameter. Meanwhile, it is shown that the polarization characteristics of photons besides photon energy depend strongly on parameters of the pulsars such as magnetic field strength, inclination angle and rotational period. Our results are clear predictions of QED vacuum polarization effects in the near vicinity of magnetic stars which can be tested with the upcoming X-ray polarimetric observations.

Enhanced spectral profile in the study of Doppler-broadened Rydberg ensembles

Combination of the electromagnetically-induced-transparency (EIT) effect and Rydberg-state atoms has attracted great attention recently due to its potential application in the photon-photon interaction or qubit operation. In this work, we studied the Rydberg-EIT spectra with room-temperature 87Rb atoms. Spectroscopic data under various experimental parameters all showed that the contrast of EIT transparency as a function of the probe field intensity is initially enhanced, reaches a maximum value and then decays gradually. The contrast of spectral profile at the optimum probe field intensity is enhanced by 2–4 times as compared with that at weakest intensity. Moreover, the signal-to-noise ratio of the spectrum can potentially be improved by 1 to 2 orders of magnitude. We provided a theoretical model to explain this behavior and clarified its underlying mechanism. Our work overcomes the obstacle of weak signal in the Rydberg-EIT spectrum caused by an apparent relaxation rate of the Rydberg polariton and weak coupling transition strength, and provides the useful knowledge for the Rydberg-EIT study.

The extragalactic background light revisited and the cosmic photon-photon opacity

In addition to its relevant astrophysical and cosmological significance, the Extragalactic Background Light (EBL) is a fundamental source of opacity for cosmic high energy photons, as well as a limitation for the propagation of high-energy particles in the Universe. We review our previously published determinations of the EBL photon density in the Universe and its evolution with cosmic time, in the light of recent surveys of IR sources at long wavelengths. We exploit deep survey observations by the Herschel Space Observatory and the Spitzer telescope, matched to optical and near-IR photometric and spectroscopic data, to re-estimate number counts and luminosity functions longwards of a few microns, and the contribution of resolved sources to the EBL. These new data indicate slightly lower photon densities in the mid- and far-infrared and sub-millimeter compared to previous determinations. This implies slightly lower cosmic opacity for photon-photon interactions. The new data do not modify previously published EBL modeling in the UV-optical and near-IR up to several microns, while reducing the photon density at longer wavelengths. This improved model of the EBL alleviates some tension that had emerged in the interpretation of the highest-energy TeV observations of local \textit{blazar}s, reducing the case for new physics beyond the standard model (like violations of the Lorenz Invariance, LIV, at the highest particle energies), or for exotic astrophysics, that had sometimes been called for to explain it. Applications of this improved EBL model on current data are considered, as well as perspectives for future instrumentation, the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) in particular.

One-electron atoms in screened modified gravity

In a large class of scalar-tensor theories that are potential candidates for dark energy, a nonminimal coupling between the scalar and the photon is possible. The presence of such an interaction grants us the exciting prospect of directly observing dark sector phenomenology in the electromagnetic spectrum. This paper investigates the behavior of one-electron atoms in this class of modified gravity models, exploring their viability as probes of deviations from general relativity in both laboratory and astrophysical settings. Building heavily on earlier studies, our main contribution is threefold: A thorough analysis finds additional fine-structure corrections previously unaccounted for, which now predict a contribution to the Lamb shift that is larger by nearly 4 orders of magnitude. In addition, they also predict a scalar-mediated photon-photon interaction, which now constrains the scalar's coupling to the photon independently of the matter coupling. This was not previously possible with atomic precision tests. Our updated constraints are $\log_{10}\beta_m \lesssim 13.4$ and $\log_{10}\beta_\gamma \lesssim 19.0$ for the matter and photon coupling, respectively, although these remain uncompetitive with bounds from other experiments. Second, we include the effects of the nuclear magnetic moment, allowing for the study of hyperfine structure and the 21 cm line, which hitherto have been unexplored in this context. Finally, we also examine how a background scalar leads to equivalence principle violations.

Semiclassical approach to quantum spin ice

We propose a semi-classical description of the low-energy properties of quantum spin ice in the strong Ising limit. Within the framework of a semiclassical, perturbative Villain expansion, that can be truncated at arbitrary order, we give an analytic and quantitative treatment of the deconfining phase. We find that photon-photon interactions significantly renormalise the speed of light and split the two transverse photon polarisations at intermediate wavevectors. We calculate the photon velocity and the ground state energy to first and second order in perturbation theory, respectively. The former is in good agreement with recent numerical simulations.

Controllable optical modulation of blue/green up-conversion fluorescence from Tm3+ (Er3+) single-doped glass ceramics upon two-step excitation of two-wavelengths

Optical modulation is a crucial operation in photonics for network data processing with the aim to overcome information bottleneck in terms of speed, energy consumption, dispersion and cross-talking from conventional electronic interconnection approach. However, due to the weak interactions between photons, a facile physical approach is required to efficiently manipulate photon-photon interactions. Herein, we demonstrate that transparent glass ceramics containing LaF3: Tm3+ (Er3+) nanocrystals can enable fast-slow optical modulation of blue/green up-conversion fluorescence upon two-step excitation of two-wavelengths at telecom windows (0.8–1.8 μm). We show an optical modulation of more than 1500% (800%) of the green (blue) up-conversion fluorescence intensity, and fast response of 280 μs (367 μs) as well as slow response of 5.82 ms (618 μs) in the green (blue) up-conversion fluorescence signal, respectively. The success of manipulating laser at telecom windows for fast-slow optical modulation from rear-earth single-doped glass ceramics may find application in all-optical fiber telecommunication areas.

Symmetry-protected collisions between strongly interacting photons.

Realizing robust quantum phenomena in strongly interacting systems is one of the central challenges in modern physical science. Approaches ranging from topological protection to quantum error correction are currently being explored across many different experimental platforms, including electrons in condensed-matter systems, trapped atoms and photons. Although photon-photon interactions are typically negligible in conventional optical media, strong interactions between individual photons have recently been engineered in several systems. Here, using coherent coupling between light and Rydberg excitations in an ultracold atomic gas, we demonstrate a controlled and coherent exchange collision between two photons that is accompanied by a π/2 phase shift. The effect is robust in that the value of the phase shift is determined by the interaction symmetry rather than the precise experimental parameters, and in that it occurs under conditions where photon absorption is minimal. The measured phase shift of 0.48(3)π is in excellent agreement with a theoretical model. These observations open a route to realizing robust single-photon switches and all-optical quantum logic gates, and to exploring novel quantum many-body phenomena with strongly interacting photons.