Relativistic laser matter interactions: from fundamental plasma physics to next generation x-ray and particle sources : vTools Events

IEEE.org | IEEE Xplore Digital Library | IEEE Standards | IEEE Spectrum | More Sites

Relativistic laser matter interactions: from fundamental plasma physics to next generation x-ray and particle sources

#colorado #laboratory #energy

The first demonstration of a laser took place a little over six decades ago when Theodore Maiman excited a ruby rod with a flash lamp to generate a pulsed red laser with a peak power on the order of a kilowatt. Since that day, the output power of lasers has increased by a factor of over a trillion times. As these precision light sources mature, the growing number of applications has been nothing short of astonishing. With current peak powers exceeding a petawatt (1015 W), these systems are being utilized to study the fundamental physics of high energy density plasmas, x-ray generation, particle acceleration, and more. The Advanced Laser for Extreme Photonics (ALEPH) system at Colorado State University has been developed with these different classes of experiments in mind. Capable of operating at 0.85 PW at Hz level repetition rates, this system has demonstrated robust electron acceleration up to 7 GeV, microfocus x-ray sources for computed tomography of dense objects, and ultrahigh energy density plasmas for studying fusion and atomic physics at near solid density. Current and future work will be presented along with plans for a future, high power laser facility at CSU.