We propose to combine multiple laser beams into a single diffraction-limited beam by beam self-focusing (collapse) in a Kerr medium. Beams with total power above critical are first combined in the near field and then propagated in the optical fiber/waveguide with Kerr nonlinearity. Random fluctuations during propagation eventually trigger a strong self-focusing event and produce a diffraction-l...

This review article highlights the recent evolution of research on laser wakefield accelerators, which has, in record time, led to the production of high quality electron beams beyond the GeV level, using compact laser systems. As shown here, the most significant breakthroughs allow to produce stable, high peak current and high quality electron beams, with a fine control of the charge, of the r...

Correlated motions of two micron‐sized particles can be conveniently detected using two optical traps with interferometric displacement detection. When the correlations become small, the elimination of crosstalk between the two beams becomes important. We have used dual optical traps created by either two orthogonally polarized laser beams derived from one laser source, or...

We present a method for determining the three-dimensional intensity distribution of directed laser radiation with micrometer resolution in restricted volumes. Our method is based on the incoupling and guiding properties of optical fibers, with the current version requiring only a few hundred micrometers across the measuring volume. We characterize the performance of the method and experimentall...

In recent years, many different plans have been considered to use the nuclear energy gained from inertial confinement fusion (ICF) as attempts to obtain high energy efficiencies. In conventional ICF methods, a small amount (about mg) of the deuterium–tritium compound is confined in a small spherical chamber of a few millimeters in radius and compressed by laser or heavy ion beams with powers in...

We show that monoenergetic ion beams can be accelerated by moderate Mach number collisionless, electrostatic shocks propagating in a long scale-length exponentially decaying plasma profile. Strong plasma heating and density steepening produced by an intense laser pulse near the critical density can launch such shocks that propagate in the extended plasma at high velocities. The generation of a ...

We present the results of a detailed study on the acceleration of intense ion beams by relativistic laser plasmas. The experiments were performed at the 100 TW laser at the Laboratoire pour L’Utilisation des Lasers Intenses (LULI). We investigated the dependence of the ion beams on the target conditions based on theoretical predictions by the target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) mechanism. ...

Central Idea The central idea of the new indoor positioning system is based on the fundamentals of stereo photogrammetry. But instead of using a second camera, we replace it with a device (called laserhedgehog) that projects well-distributed laser spots as flexible reference points on the ceiling, walls and furniture in any indoor environment (Fig. 1). The projecting light source consists of se...

We report on new developments in wavefront and polarization control for ultrashort-pulse laser microprocessing. We use two Spatial Light Modulators in combination to structure the optical fields of a picosecond-pulse laser beam, producing vortex wavefronts and radial or azimuthal polarization states. We also carry out the first demonstration of multiple first-order beams with vortex wavefronts ...