Related papers: Controlling fast electron beam divergence using tw…
Powerful laser-plasma processes are explored to generate discharge currents of a few $100\,$kA in coil targets, yielding magnetostatic fields (B-fields) in excess of $0.5\,$kT. The quasi-static currents are provided from hot electron…
Ion acceleration from gaseous targets driven by relativistic-intensity lasers was demonstrated as early as the late 90s, yet most of the experiments conducted to date have involved picosecond-duration, Nd:glass lasers operating at low…
Photons, electrons, and their interplay are at the heart of photonic devices and modern instruments for ultrafast science [1-10]. Nowadays, electron beams of the highest intensity and brightness are created by photoemission with short laser…
Ultrahigh-intensity lasers (10$^{18}$-10$^{22}$W/cm$^{2}$) have opened up new perspectives in many fields of research and application [1-5]. By irradiating a thin foil, an ultrahigh accelerating field (10$^{12}$ V/m) can be formed and…
Here we experimentally map the dynamics of electron plasma waves in laser solid interaction. We do time resolved measurements of second harmonic and hard X-ray generation from interaction of intense ($10^{16} W cm^{-2}$, 100 fs, 800nm)…
The use of strong-field (i.e. intensities in excess of 10^13 Wcm-2) few-cycle ultrafast (durations of 10 femtoseconds or less) laser pulses to create, manipulate and image vibrational wavepackets is investigated. Quasi-classical modelling…
Short-pulse intense lasers have the potential to model extreme astrophysical environments in laboratories. Although there are diagnostics for energetic electrons and ions resulting from laser-plasma interactions, the diagnostics to measure…
Ultrafast electron beams are essential for many applications, yet space-charge interactions in high-intensity beams lead to energy dissipation, coherence loss, and pulse broadening. Existing techniques mitigate these effects by using…
Creation of electrons and positrons from light alone is a basic prediction of quantum electrodynamics, but yet to be observed. Here we show that it is possible to create ${>}10^8$ positrons by dual laser irradiation of a structured plasma…
The substantial angular divergence of electron beams produced by direct laser acceleration is often considered as an inherent negative feature of the mechanism. The divergence however arises primarily because the standard approach relies on…
It is shown that when relativistically intense ultrashort laser pulses are reflected from the boundary of a plasma with a near-critical density, Doppler frequency shift leads to generation of intense radiation both in the high-frequency, up…
We propose a novel measurement technique capable of determining the temporal duration of an intense laser pulse directly in its focus at full intensity. We show that the electromagnetic radiation pattern emitted by an electron bunch with a…
Accelerating particles to relativistic energies over very short distances using lasers has been a long standing goal in physics. Among the various schemes proposed for electrons, vacuum laser acceleration has attracted considerable interest…
We present the first experimental confirmation that a laser-wakefield accelerator produced by a flying focus pulse is able to maintain the coherent structures necessary to accelerate electrons to relativistic energies. Through a combination…
Ultrashort electron pulses are crucial for time-resolved electron diffraction and microscopy of fundamental light-matter interaction. In this work, we study experimentally and theoretically the generation and characterization of attosecond…
Ionization by relativistically intense short laser pulses is studied in the framework of strong-field quantum electrodynamics. Distinctive patterns are found in the energy probability distributions of photoelectrons. Except of the already…
We briefly report on some results regarding the impact of very short and intense laser pulses on a cold, low-density plasma initially at rest, and the consequent acceleration of plasma electrons to relativistic energies. Locally and for…
Since the advent of chirped pulse amplification1 the peak power of lasers has grown dramatically and opened the new branch of high field science, delivering the focused irradiance, electric fields of which drive electrons into the…
We study the direct acceleration of a free electron in infinite vacuum along the axis of a pulsed radially-polarized laser beam. We find that net energy transfer from laser pulse to electron is maximized with the tightest focusing. We show…
Fast Ignition Inertial Confinement Fusion is a variant of inertial fusion in which DT fuel is first compressed to high density and then ignited by a relativistic electron beam generated by a fast (< 20 ps) ultra-intense laser pulse, which…