Magnetic monopole production in strong magnetic fields

If magnetic monopoles exist, they can be produced in strong magnetic fields via the electromagnetic dual of Schwinger pair production. In this talk, I show how this non-perturbative process can be described using instanton techniques, circumventing the challenges posed by the large magnetic charge required by the Dirac quantisation condition which render perturbative approaches inapplicable. In particular, I discuss the monopole production probability in ultraperipheral heavy-ion collisions and the experimental searches at the LHC by the MoEDAL collaboration, along with the mass bounds derived from them and similar searches by ATLAS. I also outline prospects for future improvements, including potential experimental and theoretical developments that could further strengthen these bounds.