Photon splitting due to vacuum polarization in a laser field is considered.
Using an operator technique, we derive the amplitudes for arbitrary strength,
spectral content and polarization of the laser field. The case of a
monochromatic circularly polarized laser field is studied in detail and the
amplitudes are obtained as three-fold integrals. The asymptotic behavior of the
amplitudes for various limits of interest are investigated also in the case of
a linearly polarized laser field. Using the obtained results, the possibility
of experimental observation of the process is discussed.Comment: 31 pages, 4 figure