Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Quantum State Engineering of Light with Continuous-wave Optical Parametric Oscillators
Published on: May 30, 2014
Exact Classical and Quantum Dynamics in Background Electromagnetic Fields
1Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Plymouth, PL4 8AA, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Analytic results for (Q)ED processes in external fields are limited to a few special cases, such as plane waves. However, the strong focusing of intense laser fields implies a need to go beyond the plane wave model. By exploiting Poincaré symmetry and superintegrability we show how to construct, and solve without approximation, new models of laser-matter interactions. We illustrate the method with a model of a radially polarized (TM) laser beam, for which we exactly determine the classical orbits and quantum wave functions. Including in this way the effects of transverse field structure should improve predictions and analyses for experiments at intense laser facilities.
Related Concept Videos
Maxwell's Equation Of Electromagnetism
Electromagnetic Waves
Plane Electromagnetic Waves I
The EM field is assumed to be a...
Symmetry in Maxwell's Equations
Differential Form of Maxwell's Equations
Electromagnetic Wave Equation
However, although electric and magnetic fields were first introduced as mathematical constructs to simplify the description of mutual forces between charges, a natural question emerges from Maxwell's equations: What...

