- Open Access
Effect of super-Gaussian pulse shape on pair production in chirped electric field with spatial inhomogeneity
Phys. Rev. D 114, 016014 – Published 14 July, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/xbv6-24hd
Abstract
Pair production in spatially inhomogeneous chirped electric fields with super-Gaussian pulse shape is investigated using the Dirac-Heisenberg-Wigner formalism, and the effect of super-Gaussian pulse shapes on the reduced momentum spectrum and the reduced total yield of created particles is mainly concerned. It is found that with the variation of the super-Gaussian envelope exponent, the momentum spectrum exhibits more pronounced oscillations, shifting, and broadening. The total yield of created particles increases monotonically with the increase of the super-Gaussian envelope exponent in the high-frequency fields with small chirp and low-frequency fields with any chirp. Meanwhile, the total yield of created particles under the super-Gaussian pulse electric fields is approximately twice that produced with the conventional Gaussian pulse envelope. These results can provide theoretical guidance for optimizing the form of external field to enhance the vacuum pair-production rate.
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Article Text
References (54)
- P. A. M. Dirac, The quantum theory of the electron. Part II, Proc. R. Soc. A 118, 779 (1928).
- F. Sauter, Uber das Verhalten eines Elektrons im homogenen elektrischen Feld nach der relativistischen Theorie Diracs, Z. Phys. 69, 742 (1931).
- J. S. Schwinger, On gauge invariance and vacuum polarization, Phys. Rev. 82, 664 (1951).
- F. Gelis and N. Tanji, Schwinger mechanism revisited, Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys. 87, 1 (2016).
- A. Di Piazza, C. Muller, K. Z. Hatsagortsyan, and C. H. Keitel, Extremely high-intensity laser interactions with fundamental quantum systems, Rev. Mod. Phys. 84, 1177 (2012).
- B. S. Xie, Z. L. Li, and S. Tang, Electron-positron pair production in ultrastrong laser fields, Matter Radiat. at Extremes 2, 225 (2017).
- J. W. Yoon, Y. G. Kim, I. W. Choi, J. H. Sung, H. W. Lee, S. K. Lee, and C. H. Nam, Realization of laser intensity over , Optica 8, 630 (2021).
- T. Heinzl and A. Ilderton, Exploring high-intensity QED at ELI, Eur. Phys. J. D 55, 359 (2009).
- M. Marklund and J. Lundin, Quantum vacuum experiments using high intensity lasers, Eur. Phys. J. D 55, 319 (2009).
- O. J. Pike, F. Mackenroth, E. G. Hill, and S. J. Rose, A photon-photon collider in a vacuum hohlraum, Nat. Photonics 8, 434 (2014).
- D. Strickland and G. Mourou, Compression of amplified chirped optical pulses, Opt. Commun. 55, 447 (1985).
- G. V. Dunne, New strong-field QED effects at ELI: Nonperturbative vacuum pair production, Eur. Phys. J. D 55, 327 (2009).
- A. Ringwald, Pair production from vacuum at the focus of an x-ray free electron laser, Phys. Lett. B 510, 107 (2001).
- C. K. Dumlu and G. V. Dunne, The stokes phenomenon and Schwinger vacuum pair production in time-dependent laser pulses, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 250402 (2010).
- C. Kohlfürst, N. Ahmadiniaz, J. Oertel, and R. Schützhold, Sauter-Schwinger effect for colliding laser pulses, Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 241801 (2022).
- H. Taya, T. Fujimori, T. Misumi, M. Nitta, and N. Sakai, Exact WKB analysis of the vacuum pair production by time-dependent electric fields, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2021) 082.
- C. K. Dumlu and G. V. Dunne, Interference effects in Schwinger vacuum pair production for time-dependent laser pulses, Phys. Rev. D 83, 065028 (2011).
- H. Gies and K. Klingmuller, Pair production in inhomogeneous fields, Phys. Rev. D 72, 065001 (2005).
- C. Schneider and R. Schützhold, Dynamically assisted Sauter-Schwinger effect in inhomogeneous electric fields, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2016) 164.
- S. M. Schmidt, D. Blaschke, G. Ropke, S. A. Smolyansky, A. V. Prozorkevich, and V. D. Toneev, A quantum kinetic equation for particle production in the Schwinger mechanism, Int. J. Mod. Phys. E 07, 709 (1998).
- D. B. Blaschke, A. V. Prozorkevich, C. D. Roberts, S. M. Schmidt, and S. A. Smolyansky, Pair production and optical lasers, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 140402 (2006).
- Y. Kluger, J. M. Eisenberg, B. Svetitsky, F. Cooper, and E. Mottola, Pair production in a strong electric field, Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 2427 (1991).
- R. Alkofer, M. B. Hecht, C. D. Roberts, S. M. Schmidt, and D. V. Vinnik, Pair creation and an x-ray free electron laser, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 193902 (2001).
- N. Abdukerim, Z. L. Li, and B. S. Xie, Enhanced electron-positron pair production by frequency chirping in one- and two-color laser pulse fields, Chin. Phys. B 26, 020301 (2017).
- L. J. Li, X. W. Sun. M. Mohamedsedik, L. Wang, L. N. Hu, and B. S. Xie, Pair production in multi-pulse trains electric fields with temporal oscillation, Eur. Phys. J. Plus 140, 771 (2025).
- C. Kohlfürst, Electron-positron pair production in inhomogeneous electromagnetic fields, arXiv:1512.06082.
- B. S. Xie, Z. L. Li, and S. Tang, Electron-positron pair production in ultrastrong laser fields, Matter Radiat. Extremes 2, 225 (2017).
- N. Z. Chen, O. Amat, L. N. Hu, H. H. Fan, and B. S. Xie, Asymmetric pulse effects on pair production in chirped electric fields, Phys. Rev. D 109, 076015 (2024).
- C. Kohlfürst, Effect of time-dependent inhomogeneous magnetic fields on the particle momentum spectrum in electron-positron pair production, Phys. Rev. D 101, 096003 (2020).
- M. Diez, R. Alkofer, and C. Kohlfürst, Identifying time scales in particle production from fields, Phys. Lett. B 844, 138063 (2023).
- F. Hebenstreit, R. Alkofer, G. V. Dunne, and H. Gies, Momentum signatures for Schwinger pair production in short laser pulses with sub-cycle structure, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 150404 (2009).
- F. Hebenstreit, R. Alkofer, and H. Gies, Particle self-bunching in the Schwinger effect in spacetime-dependent electric fields, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 180403 (2011).
- C. Kohlfürst and R. Alkofer, Ponderomotive effects in multiphoton pair production, Phys. Rev. D 97, 036026 (2018).
- M. Ababekri, B. S. Xie, and J. Zhang, Effects of finite spatial extent on Schwinger pair production, Phys. Rev. D 100, 016003 (2019).
- N. Ahmadiniaz, A. M. Fedotov, E. G. Gelfer, S. P. Kim, and C. Schubert, Generalized Gelfand-Dikii equation and solitonic electric fields for fermionic Schwinger pair production, Phys. Rev. D 108, 036019 (2023).
- L. J. Li, M. Mohamedsedik, and B. S. Xie, Enhanced dynamically assisted pair production in spatial inhomogeneous electric fields with the frequency chirping, Phys. Rev. D 104, 036015 (2021).
- R. Schützhold, H. Gies, and G. Dunne, Dynamically assisted Schwinger mechanism, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 130404 (2008).
- H. Taya, Dynamically assisted Schwinger mechanism and chirality production in parallel electromagnetic field, Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 023257 (2020).
- C. Kohlfürst, F. Queisser, and R. Schützhold, Dynamically assisted tunneling in the impulse regime, Phys. Rev. Res. 3, 033153 (2021).
- J. P. Edwards, N. Ahmadiniaz, S. M. Schmidt, and C. Kohlfürst, Relativistic quantum kinetic theory: Higher order contributions in assisted Schwinger pair production, Phys. Rev. D 112, L031901 (2025).
- C. K. Dumlu, Schwinger vacuum pair production in chirped laser pulses, Phys. Rev. D 82, 045007 (2010).
- O. Olugh, Z. L. Li, B. S. Xie, and R. Alkofer, Pair production in differently polarized electric fields with frequency chirps, Phys. Rev. D 99, 036003 (2019).
- B. S. Xie, L. J. Li, M. Mohamedsedik, and L. Wang, Enhancement effect of frequency chirp on vacuum electron-positron pair production in strong field, Acta Phys. Sin. 71, 131201 (2022).
- N. Abdukerim, Z. L. Li, and B. S. Xie, Effects of laser pulse shape and carrier envelope phase on pair production, Phys. Lett. B 726, 820 (2013).
- D. Vasak, M. Gyulassy, and H. T. Elze, Quantum transport theory for Abelian plasmas, Ann. Phys. (N.Y.) 173, 462 (1987).
- I. Bialynicki-Birula, P. Górnicki, and J. Rafelski, Phase-space structure of the Dirac vacuum, Phys. Rev. D 44, 1825 (1991).
- M. A. Bake and O. Olugh, Vacuum pair production under spatially asymmetric time-oscillating electric fields, Phys. Rev. D 112, 016030 (2025).
- M. Ababekri, S. Dulat, B. S. Xie, and J. Zhang, Chirp effects on pair production in oscillating electric fields with spatial inhomogeneity, Phys. Lett. B 810, 135815 (2020).
- M. Mohamedsedik, L. J. Li, and B. S. Xie, Schwinger pair production in inhomogeneous electric fields with symmetrical frequency chirp, Phys. Rev. D 104, 016009 (2021).
- G. G. Paulus, F. Grasbon, A. Dreischuh, H. Walther, R. Kopold, and W. Becker, Above-threshold ionization by an elliptically polarized field: Interplay between electronic quantum trajectories, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 3791 (2000).
- P. B. Corkum, Plasma perspective on strong-field multiphoton ionization, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 1994 (1993).
- T. Nousch, D. Seipt, B. Kämpfer, and A. I. Titov, Spectral caustics in laser assisted Breit–Wheeler process, Phys. Lett. B 755, 162 (2016).
- L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz, Quantum Mechanics (Non-Relativistic Theory) (Pergamon, New York, 2013).
- J. Heading, An Introduction to Phase-Integral Methods (Methuen, London, 1962).