Abstract:

In this talk I will present a non-technical overview of fundamental processes that (will) occur in the presence of present day (and future) high-intensity lasers. After a short discussion of the relevant theory, strong-field quantum electrodynamics, I'll go through a list of examples including spontaneous and stimulated pair production, vacuum birefringence and nonlinear Compton scattering (including radiative reaction). I will highlight the main experimental signatures and the prospects for observing these.