  The one-loop "vacuum" Heisenberg-Euler coupling of four electromagnetic
fields can lead to interesting collective effects in the collision of two
photon clouds, on a time scale orders of magnitude faster than one estimates
from the cross-section and density. We estimate the characteristic time for
macroscopic transformation of positive to negative helicity in clouds that are
initially totally polarized and for depolarization of a polarized beam
traversing an unpolarized cloud.
