Strong field physics pursued with petawatt lasers

Strong-field and attosecond physics in solids

We review the status of strong-field and attosecond processes in bulk transparent solids near the Keldysh tunneling limit. For high enough fields and low-frequency excitations, the optical and electronic properties of dielectrics can be transiently and reversibly modified within the applied pulse. In Ghimire et al (2011 Phys. Rev. Lett. 107 167407) non-parabolic band effects were seen in photon...

Dense blocks of energetic ions driven by multi-petawatt lasers

Laser-driven ion accelerators have the advantages of compact size, high density, and short bunch duration over conventional accelerators. Nevertheless, it is still challenging to simultaneously enhance the yield and quality of laser-driven ion beams for practical applications. Here we propose a scheme to address this challenge via the use of emerging multi-petawatt lasers and a density-modulate...

Zettawatt-Exawatt Lasers and Their Applications in Ultrastrong-Field Physics

Since its birth, the laser has been extraordinarily effective in the study and applications of lasermatter interaction at the atomic and molecular level and in the nonlinear optics of the bound electron. In its early life, the laser was associated with the physics of electron volts and of the chemical bond. Over the past ten years, however, we have seen a surge in our ability to produce high in...

Monte Carlo Simulation of Pair Creation Using Petawatt Lasers

Strong Field Atomic Physics In The Mid- Infrared

We examine strong field atomic physics in a wavelength region (3-4 microns) where very little work has previously been done. The soft photon energy allows the exploration of oneelectron atoms with low binding energies (alkali metals). We find that photoionization spectra differ from rare gas studies at shorter wavelengths due to more complex ion core potentials. Harmonic generation is studied, ...