On the Schwinger limit attainability with extreme power lasers

Abstract: Circularly polarized colliding laser pulses can create abundant electron-positron pair plasma [A. R. Bell and J. G. Kirk, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 200403 (2008)], which scattering the incoming electromagnetic waves can prevent them from reaching the critical field of Quantum Electrodynamics causing vacuum breakdown and polarization. It is shown that the effects of radiation friction and the electron-positron avalanche development depend on the electromagnetic wave polarization. For circularly polarized colliding pulses, which force the electrons to move in circles, these effects dominate not only the particle motion but also the evolution of the pulses. While for linearly polarized pulses, where the electrons (positrons) oscillate along the electric field, these effects are not as strong. There is an apparent analogy of these cases with circular and linear electron accelerators with the corresponding constraining and reduced roles of synchrotron radiation losses.