Long time self-modulation of nonlinear electromagnetic wave in two-dimensional cavity

Abstract: The vacuum is expected to exhibit electromagnetic nonlinearity. We demonstrate the properties of nonlinear electromagnetic wave in a two-dimensional rectangular cavity by calculating the nonlinear correction for two classical standing waves. We apply the linear approximation in a short timescale. A part of the nonlinear correction increases with time. In particular, a one-dimensional second harmonic grows if the cavity size satisfies a specific condition. We also analyze the nonlinear electromagnetic wave in a timescale longer than the applicable limit of the linear approximation. We formulate the self-modulation of the amplitude and phase, including the effect of static magnetic flux density. In the viewpoint of energy flow between the two modes of the standing wave, the behavior of nonlinear electromagnetic wave can be classified into three types. Namely, the energy flow keeps oscillating, eventually decreases to zero, or never occurs.