Proposal for Detection of QED Vacuum Nonlinearities in Maxwell’s Equations by the Use of Waveguides

Abstract

We present a novel method for detecting nonlinearities, due to quantum electrodynamics through photon-photon scattering, in Maxwell’s equation. The photon-photon scattering gives rise to self-interaction terms which are similar to the nonlinearities due to the polarization in nonlinear optics. These self-interaction terms vanish in the limit of parallel propagating waves, but if, instead of parallel propagating waves, the modes generated in waveguides are used, there will be a nonzero total effect. Based on this idea, we calculate the nonlinear excitation of new modes and estimate the strength of this effect. Furthermore, we suggest a principal experimental setup.