Search for Photon-Photon Elastic Scattering in the X-ray Region

Abstract

We report the first results of a search for real photon-photon scattering using X rays. A novel system is developed to split and collide X-ray pulses by applying interferometric techniques. A total of $6.5\times 10^5$ pulses (each containing about $10^{11}$ photons) from an X-ray Free-Electron Laser are injected into the system. No scattered events are observed, and an upper limit of $1.7\times 10^{-24}$ ${\mathrm{m}}^2$ (95% C.L.) is obtained on the photon-photon elastic scattering cross section at 6.5 keV.