An electron (blue) enters the laser beam from the left, and collides with a laser photon to produce a high-energy gamma ray (wiggly yellow line). The electron is deflected downwards. The gamma ray then collides with four or more laser photons to produce an electron-positron pair.





This cartoon by Gil Eisner appeared in the November 1997 issue of Photonics Spectra above a brief note about our experiment. Of course, we don't produce anything like the complicated molecular structure the smiling fellow above comes up with, and the process isn't nearly so calm and genteel. But it's still a cute cartoon!

http://www.slac.stanford.edu/exp/e144/e144.html