RESUMEN
Accelerated charges radiate, and therefore must lose energy. The impact of this energy loss on particle motion, called radiation reaction, becomes significant in intense-laser matter interactions, where it can reduce collision energies, hinder particle acceleration schemes, and is seemingly unavoidable. Here we show that this common belief breaks down in short laser pulses, and that energy losses and radiation reaction can be controlled and effectively switched off by appropriate tuning of the pulse length. This "quenching" of emission is impossible in classical physics, but becomes possible in QED due to the discrete nature of quantum emissions.
RESUMEN
We show that for collisions of electrons with a high-intensity laser, discrete photon emissions introduce a transverse beam spread that is distinct from that due to classical (or beam shape) effects. Via numerical simulations, we show that this quantum induced transverse momentum gain of the electron is manifest in collisions with a realistic laser pulse of intensity within reach of current technology, and we propose it as a measurable signature of strong-field quantum electrodynamics.