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Open Access
Featured
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News & Views |
Plasma optics promise exawatt performance
Modelling shows how plasma density gradients can be tailored to compress optical pulses in the final stages of laser systems towards exawatt (1018 W) peak powers.
- Brendan Dromey
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Article
| Open Access
Laser pulse compression by a density gradient plasma for exawatt to zettawatt lasers
Researchers propose a laser pulse compression method for exawatt to zettawatt lasers based on spatially varying dispersion of an inhomogeneous plasma. This may enable, for example, pulse compression of a laser pulse from 2.35 ps to 10.3 fs. The approach is robust at high intensities.
- Min Sup Hur
- , Bernhard Ersfeld
- & Hyyong Suk
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News & Views |
Lightning protection by laser
A field trial in the Swiss mountains demonstrating that an intense laser beam can guide lightning discharge over tens of metres gives hope for the development of a new form of mobile lightning protection.
- Cord L. Arnold
- , Clara J. Saraceno
- & M. Teresa Correia de Barros
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Article |
Brilliant femtosecond-laser-driven hard X-ray flashes from carbon nanotube plasma
Compact laser-wakefield-driven X-ray sources show promise but suffer from poor conversion efficiency. New research demonstrates high-yield, hard X-rays generated by using carbon nanotube targets, instead of gases.
- Yinren Shou
- , Pengjie Wang
- & Wenjun Ma
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News & Views |
Faster laser pulses boost plasma accelerators
New methods to control how laser pulses propagate inside a plasma could signify the start of a global race to demonstrate truly high-energy compact particle accelerators.
- Rob J. Shalloo
- & Stuart P. D. Mangles
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Letter |
Phase-locked laser-wakefield electron acceleration
Independent velocity and intensity control of photons for driving a laser-plasma accelerator may enable a dephasing-free regime.
- C. Caizergues
- , S. Smartsev
- & C. Thaury
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News & Views |
Megafilaments in the mid-infrared
Focusing short CO2 laser pulses into air reveals rich ionization physics that is best explained by solid-state theories and results in centimetre-scale-diameter megafilaments that transport joules of energy.
- Günter Steinmeyer
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Editorial |
Unchartered territory
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Article |
Relativistic single-cycle tunable infrared pulses generated from a tailored plasma density structure
A scheme for generating intense single-cycle pulses in the 5–14 μm wavelength range is proposed. The generation mechanism is described by photon frequency downshifting of an off-the-shelf Ti:sapphire laser in a tailored plasma density structure.
- Zan Nie
- , Chih-Hao Pai
- & Chan Joshi
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News & Views |
A closer look at ultra-intense lasers
The spatiotemporal characterization of a high-peak-power pulsed laser beam reveals previously undetected wavefront distortions.
- Tamas Nagy
- & Günter Steinmeyer
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Letter |
Quasi-monoenergetic and tunable X-rays from a laser-driven Compton light source
Quasi-monoenergetic Compton X-rays tunable in the range ∼70 keV to >1 MeV are generated in a laser-driven scheme.
- N. D. Powers
- , I. Ghebregziabher
- & D. P. Umstadter
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News & Views |
A closer look at LIFE
Inertial fusion energy is one potential path towards realizing sustainable energy. The development of a laser power plant capable of delivering high-energy laser pulses is crucial for realizing laser-driven inertial fusion energy.
- Rachel Won
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News & Views |
Probing the quantum vacuum
Researchers are proposing a new experiment that will probe fundamental aspects of the quantum vacuum by searching for highly elusive photon–photon scattering events.
- Mattias Marklund
Dual-chirped optical parametric amplification of high-energy single-cycle laser pulses
More efficient plasmas
Water droplet emission