Breaking the vacuum and 'nothing'??

Nobel physics prize winners, Strickland and Mourou were not satisfied. Mourou is raising the ante. By an outrageous amplification intensified up to petawatts, the pursuit now is to break the limits of QED (quantum electrodynamics) and the vacuum! To paraphrase: a vacuum ceases to be a void. It's emptiness broken.

The quest into reality is to make virtual particles themselves (or 'nothing') turn into a particle. "Empty space' will become revealed, known. This because virtual particles can also travel to places where normal particles do not. They go into uncharted territory that has not been traced. 'They break the laws of physics'.

The amazing project is being conducted at several sites across Europe with an immense funding through the European Union and laboratories of 13 countries.

They would have to wrestle with the Schwinger limit. Bulanov is designing for the laser to operate in a circular polarization due to tight constraints for its effectiveness for a corkscrew pattern which may release more photons needed. A mirror flying at the speed of light which could help compress the light. Converging beams must be at the right timing and precision. Accuracy would be critical for success.