Polarization of the electron and positron produced in combined Coulomb and strong laser fields

The process of $e^+e^-$ production in the superposition of a Coulomb and a strong laser field is considered. The pair production rate integrated over the momentum and summed over the spin projections of one of the particles is derived exactly in the parameters of the laser field and in the Born approximation with respect to the Coulomb field. The case of a monochromatic circularly polarized laser field is considered in detail. A very compact analytical expression of the pair production rate and its dependence on the polarization of one of the created particles is obtained in the quasiclassical approximation for the experimentally relevant case of an undercritical laser field. As a result, the polarization of the created electron (positron) is derived.Comment: 16 pages, no figure

Production of high energy particles in laser and Coulomb fields and e^+e^- antenna

A strong laser field and the Coulomb field of a nucleus can produce e^{+}e^{-} pairs. It is shown for the first time that there is a large probability that electrons and positrons created in this process collide after one or several oscillations of the laser field. These collisions can take place at high energy resulting in several phenomena. The quasielastic collision e^{+}e^{-} -> e^{+}e^{-} allows acceleration of leptons in the laser field to higher energies. The inelastic collisions allow production of high energy photons e^{+}e^{-}-> 2 gamma and muons, e^{+}e^{-} -> mu^{+}mu^{-}. The yield of high-energy photons and muons produced via this mechanism exceeds exponentially their production through conventional direct creation in laser and Coulomb fields. A relation of the phenomena considered with the antenna-mechanism of multiphoton absorption in atoms is discussed.Comment: 4 page