This article is cited in 2 papers

Reviews (based on the materials of the XLVIII Vavilov Readings on Luminescence, Moscow, April 17, 2024)

Physics of extremely strong electromagnetic field: Status and prospects

I. Yu. Kostyukov

Federal Research Center A.V. Gaponov-Grekhov Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 603950, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

Abstract: The development of laser and accelerator technologies has made it possible to generate extremely strong electromagnetic (EM) fields with a strength several orders of magnitude higher than that of the atomic field. The review discusses the processes that play a key role in extremely strong EM fields, and new "quantum-electrodynamic" plasma states. Schemes aimed at generating extremely strong EM fields in laboratory conditions are described. These schemes can be conditionally divided into three groups: (i) all-optical schemes, (ii) laser-beam schemes, and (iii) schemes based on the interaction of charged particle beams. Much attention is paid to the XCELS project, the main objective of which is to study both fundamental processes of extremely high-intensity laser interaction with matter and possible applications associated with this interaction.

Keywords: extremely strong electromagnetic fields, laser radiation, electron beams, quantum electrodynamics, electron–positron pairs.

Received: 17.09.2024

 English version: Quantum Electronics, 2025, 51:suppl. 8, S653–S680