Strong-Field QED and High Power Lasers

This contribution presents an overview of fundamental QED processes in the presence of an external field produced by an ultra-intense laser. The discussion focusses on the basic intensity effects on vacuum polarisation and the prospects for their observation. Some historical remarks are added where appropriate.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures; plenary talk, Euler-Heisenberg session of QFEXT11, Benasque, Spain, September 18-24, 201

Corrections to Laser Electron Thomson Scattering

We discuss classical and quantum corrections to Thomson scattering between an electron and a laser. For radiation reaction, nonlinear, and quantum effects we identify characteristic dimensionless parameters in terms of which we determine the leading order correction terms.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure; updated version of contribution to 2012 Annual Report, Central Laser Facility (CLF), Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory, U

Noncommutativity and the lightfront

We discuss various limits which transform configuration space into phase space, with emphasis on those related to lightfront field theory, and show that they are unified by spectral flow. Examples include quantising in `almost lightfront' coordinates and the appearance of lightlike noncommutativity from a strong background laser field. We compare this with the limit of a strong magnetic field, and investigate the role played by lightfront zero modes.Comment: 7 pages, 2 eps figures. V2: minor changes, references adde