Center for Relativistic Laser ScienceExplore the interaction between ultra-intense light and matter

What is the Ultrashort Ultraintense Laser?

Ultrashort Ultraintense Laser

• Ultrashort ultraintense lasers generate optical pulses having power over 10 TW (terawatt=1012 watt) and pulse width shorter than hundreds of fs (fs = 10-15 s)
• The generated optical pulse, when focused, provides extremely strong electromagnetic field. ex) 30 J, 30 fs (1000 TW = 1 PW), 10 μm x 10 μm ??1021 W/cm2 (higher than the intensity obtained by focusing on a pencil tip the entire sun light falling upon the Earth)
• When such an ultraintense electromagnetic field interacts with matter, extreme physical conditions, impossible to be obtained by other means, are made, and new physical phenomena can be observed.

Key Technology of Ultrashort Ultraintense Lasers: Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA)

• A weak ultrashort (tens of fs) is first stretched in time, amplified in power and compressed in time to recover the initial pulsewidth
• Extremely high intensity (>1020 W/cm2) can be obtained with modest energy (a few J)