Related papers: Coherent Harmonic Focusing and the Light Extreme
Reaching light intensities above $10^{25}$ W/cm$^{2}$ and up to the Schwinger limit ($10^{29}$ W/cm$^{2}$) would enable testing decades-old fundamental predictions of Quantum Electrodynamics. A promising yet challenging approach to achieve…
We report an experimental-computational study of the optical properties of plasma mirrors (PMs) at the incident laser frequency when irradiated directly at relativistic intensity (1e18 < I_0 < 1e19 W/cm^2) by near-normally incident (4…
In this letter, cutting-edge 3D Particle-In-Cell simulations are used to demonstrate that so-called relativistic plasma mirrors irradiated by PetaWatt (PW) lasers and naturally curved by laser radiation pressure can be used to tightly focus…
Two dimensional particle-in-cell simulations characterizing the interaction of ultraintense short pulse lasers in the range 10^{18} \leq I \leq 10^{20} W/cm^{2} with converging target geometries are presented. Seeking to examine intensity…
This paper reports on the use of coherent microwave scattering (CMS) for spatially resolved electron number density measurements of elongated plasma structures induced at mid-IR femtosecond filamentation in air. The presented studies…
FLASH is the first free electron laser user facility operating in the vacuum ultraviolet and soft x-ray wavelength range. Many user experiments require knowledge of the spatial and temporal coherence properties of the radiation. In this…
Measurements of the spatial and temporal coherence of single, femtosecond x-ray pulses generated by the first hard x-ray free-electron laser (FEL), the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), are presented. Single shot measurements were…
This work focuses on the incoherent and coherent combination of pulsed laser beams, building on previous research [1] that addressed the combination of continuous-wave laser beams. For the pulsed combination, we have focused on the temporal…
We show that coherent harmonic focusing provides an efficient mechanism to boost all-optical signatures of quantum vacuum nonlinearity in the collision of high-intensity laser fields, thereby offering a promising route to their first…
The influence of laser frequency on laser-driven ion acceleration is investigated by means of two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. When ultrashort intense laser pulse at higher harmonic frequency irradiates a thin solid foil, the…
High-harmonic generation (HHG) normally requires a careful adjustment of the driving laser intensity (typically $10^{14} - 10^{15}$ W/cm$^2$) and gas medium parameters to enable good phase matching conditions. In contrast with conventional…
In this letter, we report Doppler harmonic generation with a relativistic plasma mirror at unprecedented intensities $>10^{21} ~\textrm{W/cm}^2$ using a PetaWatt-class laser. We show that beyond a few $10^{21} ~\textrm{W/cm}^2$ a precise…
The experimental characterization of the spatial and temporal coherence properties of the free-electron laser in Hamburg (FLASH) at a wavelength of 8.0 nm is presented. Double pinhole diffraction patterns of single femtosecond pulses…
The advent of Petawatt-class laser systems allows generating electro-magnetic fields of unprecedented strength in a controlled environment, driving increasingly more efforts to probe yet unobserved processes through their interaction with…
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)…
Synchronising ultra-short (~fs) and focussed laser pulses is a particularly difficult task, as this timescale lies orders of magnitude below the typical range of fast electronic devices. Here we present an optical technique that allows for…
Relativistic electrons generated by the interaction of petawatt-class short laser pulses with solid targets can be used to generate bright X-rays via bremsstrahlung. The efficiency of laser energy transfer into these electrons depends on…
Harmonic generation in the limit of ultra-steep density gradients is studied experimentally. Observations demonstrate that while the efficient generation of high order harmonics from relativistic surfaces requires steep plasma density…
Formation of femtosecond sawtooth pulses by high harmonic generation from relativistic oscillating mirrors is studied. For oblique incidence of $p$-polarized laser pulse, one can efficiently control the intensity of the first few harmonics…
High-order harmonic generation (HHG) in gases has been studied for almost 40 years in many different conditions, varying the laser wavelength, intensity, focusing geometry, target design, gas species, etc. However, no systematic…