Lasers can now generate bursts of light lasting just one quintillionth of a second to reveal the ghostly correlated photon pairs hidden in a plasma.
April 25, 2026
Original Paper
Attosecond Nonlinear Quantum Electrodynamics in Laser-Driven Plasmas via Two-Photon Synchrotron Emission
arXiv · 2604.20672
The Takeaway
This new method creates attosecond bursts of light without needing a massive, mile-long particle accelerator. By firing a laser into a plasma, researchers can trigger a specific type of radiation that emits photons in perfectly synced pairs. This allows them to study the most extreme and rapid events in quantum physics at a nanometer scale. It opens up a new way to test the fundamental laws of Quantum Electrodynamics in a standard laboratory. This technique could let us film the movement of electrons inside atoms as they happen in real-time.
From the abstract
Ultrafast strong-field laser--plasma physics is shown to offer a promising framework for relativistic nonlinear quantum electrodynamics (QED). As one of its key advantages, this approach to relativistic nonlinear QED does not require an external beam of relativistic particles. Instead, high-energy electrons are produced in this setting as a part of ultrafast strong-field laser--plasma interactions. An intense ultrashort laser pulse generates and accelerates dense electron bunches to relativistic