Subcycle multi-terahertz quantum electrodynamics

Quantum field theory offers the most exact description of the physics of microscopic interactions. The process offield quantization necessitates the existence of a vacuum field with a corresponding zero-point energy [1]. From this point of view, the ability to directly measure and manipulate electrodynamic quantum vacuum field is an attractive prospect for experimental physics. It is bound to shed new light on the processes governing macroscopic properties of quantum matter [2, 3] as well as to motivate table-top investigations of fundamental constituents of the quantum fields and their intrinsic connections the structure of spacetime [4, 5].