high intensity laser physics

The primary focus of the research group "high-intensity laser physics" lies on the development and optimization of a new class of laser systems generating pulses with peak powers in the range of 100 Terawatt to 1 Petawatt and the application of these pulses for the acceleration of charged particles such as electrons and ions to energies in the range of 10's or 100's of Megaelectronvolts.

The laser systems which are developed and utilized within this research group are fully diode-pumped solid state laser systems which offer a worldwide unique combination of high laser pulse energy (in the range of 10s of Joules), short laser pulse duration (shorter than 150 fs) and high pulse repetition rate (a few shots per minute). The POLARIS laser system which has been developed within the group currently holds the world record for the peak power of the laser pulses from such a fully diode-pumped system. The image below gives an insight into the penultimate power amplifier of POLARIS.

Using high-power pulses from such a laser system opens up the possibility to conduct a large variety of experiments towards laser-driven particle acceleration. Both the generation of electron and ion pulses exhibiting a quasi-monoenergetic spectral distributions are among the research highlights of this group. This group was the first to be able to observe the electron acceleration process with optical methods and to visualize the so-called "plasma bubble" during the interaction, which is a prerequisite for the generation of quasi-monoenergetic electron pulses. Applications using such electron pulses for the generation of secondary radiation with unique properties are also developed in the group.

To generate ion pulses with narrow energy spectra, the use of micro-structured targets but also cascaded schemes of ion acceleration have been successfully developed and realized. These schemes allow for an active control of the energy distribution of the ion pulses with a high reliability which is important for the further application of such pulses. Within the "onCOOPtics" project which is a joint research activity of the ZIK ultra optics with the ZIK OncoRay in Dresden and the Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, the application of ion pulses for radiation therapy is investigated.

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