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Laser wakefield accelerators rely on relativistically moving micron-sized plasma cavities that provide extremely high electric field >100GV/m. Here, we demonstrate transverse shaping of the plasma cavity to produce controlled sub-GeV…
We study the interaction of intense ultrashort laser pulses with cryogenic He jets using 2d/3v relativistic Particle-in-Cell simulations (XOOPIC). Of particular interest are laser intensities $(10^{15}-10^{20})$ W/cm$^2$, pulse lengths $\le…
A multi-shot target assembly and automatic alignment procedure for laser-plasma proton acceleration at high-repetition-rate are introduced. The assembly is based on a multi-target rotating wheel capable of hosting $>$5000 targets, mounted…
In this work, an innovative scheme is proposed that exploits the response of magnetized plasmas to realize a refractive index exceeding unity for right circularly polarized (RCP) waves. Using two- and three-dimensional Particle-in-Cell…
We study the prospects of controlling transmission of broadband and bi-chromatic laser pulses through turbid samples. The ability to focus transmitted broadband light is limited via both the scattering properties of the medium, and the…
An axiparabola is a reflective aspherical optics that focuses a light beam into an extended focal line. The light intensity and group velocity profiles along the focus are adjustable through the proper design. The on-axis light velocity can…
We develop a general method for customizing the intensity statistics of speckle patterns on a target plane. By judiciously modulating the phase-front of a monochromatic laser beam, we experimentally generate speckle patterns with…
Important ongoing research on mode-locked fiber lasers aims at developing new types of multi-soliton regimes, such as soliton molecules, molecular complexes or soliton crystals. The on-demand generation of such multi-pulse structures is a…
We report on experimental investigations of proton acceleration from solid foils irradiated with PW-class laser-pulses, where highest proton cut-off energies were achieved for temporal pulse parameters that varied significantly from those…
A method based on laser wakefield acceleration with controlled ionization injection triggered by another frequency-tripled laser is proposed, which can produce electron bunches with low energy spread. As two color pulses co-propagate in the…
We derive upper bounds to free-space concentration of electromagnetic waves, mapping out the limits to maximum intensity for any spot size and optical beam-shaping device. For sub-diffraction-limited optical beams, our bounds suggest the…
An ideal plasma lens can provide the focusing power of a small f-number, solid-state focusing optic at a fraction of the diameter. An ideal plasma lens, however, relies on a steady-state, linear laser pulse-plasma interaction. Ultrashort…
Forming a desired optical field distribution from a given source requires precise spatial control of a field's amplitude and phase. Low-loss metasurfaces that allow extreme phase and polarization control of optical fields have been…
We investigate by particle-in-cell simulations in two and three dimensions the laser-plasma interaction and the proton acceleration in multilayer targets where a low density "near-critical" layer of a few micron thickness is added on the…
Broadband wavelength tuneability can ensure a new level of versatility for laser systems and extend areas of their applications. Principle limitations of achieving wide tuning wavelength ranges are generally defined by the spectral…
Ion beams generated with ultra-intense lasers-plasma accelerators hold promises to provide compact and affordable beams of relativistic ions. One of the most efficient acceleration setups was demonstrated to be direct acceleration by the…
The bubble structure generated by laser and plasma interactions changes in size depending on the local plasma density. The self injection electrons position with respect to wakefield can be controlled by tailoring the longitudinal plasma…
A narrow-bandwidth actively mode-locked laser using a Cr:ZnS gain medium has been successfully demonstrated. A free-space electro-optic phase modulator is employed in the solid-state laser resonator to achieve frequency-modulation (FM)…
A scheme for fast, compact, and controllable acceleration of heavy particles in vacuum is proposed, in which two counterpropagating lasers with variable frequencies drive a beat-wave structure with variable phase velocity, thus allowing for…
We demonstrate a hybrid distributed fiber sensing system for multi-parameter detection. The integration of phase-sensitive optical time domain reflectometry ({\Phi}-OTDR) and Brillouin optical time domain reflectometry (B-OTDR) enables…