Since the invention of the laser in the 1960s, people have strived to reach higher intensities and shorter pulse durations. High intensities and ultrashort pulse durations are intimately related. Recent developments have shown that high intensity lasers also open the way to realize pulses with the shortest durations to date, giving birth to the field of attosecond science (1 asec = 10-18s). This book is about high-intensity lasers and their applications. The goal is to give an up to date introduction to the technology behind these laser systems and to the broad range of intense laser applications. These applications include AMO (atomic molecular and optical) physics, x-ray science, attosecond science, plasma physics and particle acceleration, condensed matter science and laser micromachining, and finally even high-energy physics.
Author(s): Sandro De Silvestri, Mauro Nisoli, Giuseppe Sansone, Salvatore Stagira, Caterina Vozzi (auth.), Thomas Brabec (eds.)
Series: Springer Series in Optical Sciences 134
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer-Verlag New York
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 592
Tags: Laser Technology, Photonics;Nuclear Physics, Heavy Ions, Hadrons;Nuclear Fusion;Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics
Front Matter....Pages i-xv
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
High-Energy Pulse Compression Techniques....Pages 3-15
Ultrafast Laser Amplifier Systems....Pages 17-34
Optical Parametric Amplification Techniques....Pages 35-59
Carrier-Envelope Phase of Ultrashort Pulses....Pages 61-89
Free-Electron Lasers – High-Intensity X-Ray Sources....Pages 91-107
Front Matter....Pages 109-109
Numerical Methods in Strong Field Physics....Pages 111-145
Principles of Single Atom Physics: High-Order Harmonic Generation, Above-Threshold Ionization and Non-Sequential Ionization....Pages 147-183
Ionization of Small Molecules by Strong Laser Fields....Pages 185-208
Probing Molecular Structure and Dynamics by Laser-Driven Electron Recollisions....Pages 209-224
Intense Laser Interaction with Noble Gas Clusters....Pages 225-241
Laser-Induced Optical Breakdown in Solids....Pages 243-257
Front Matter....Pages 259-259
Macroscopic Effects in High-Order Harmonic Generation....Pages 261-280
Attosecond Pulses: Generation, Detection, and Applications....Pages 281-300
High-Order Harmonics from Plasma Surfaces....Pages 301-319
Table-Top X-Ray Lasers in Short Laser Pulse and Discharge Driven Plasmas....Pages 321-378
Time-Resolved X-Ray Science: Emergence of X-Ray Beams Using Laser Systems....Pages 379-390
Atomic Multi-photon Interaction with Intense Short-Wavelength Fields....Pages 391-424
Front Matter....Pages 425-425
Relativistic Laser-Plasma Physics....Pages 427-453
High-Density Plasma Laser Interaction....Pages 455-475
Relativistic Laser–Atom Physics....Pages 477-496
Front Matter....Pages 425-425
Tests of QED with Intense Lasers....Pages 497-518
Nuclear Physics with Intense Lasers....Pages 519-536
Front Matter....Pages 537-537
Ion-Generated, Attosecond Pulses: Interaction with Atoms and Comparison to Femtosecond Laser Fields....Pages 539-567
Back Matter....Pages 569-591
