München 2004 – scientific programme

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Q: Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 26: Ultrakurze Lichtimpulse: Erzeugung

Q 26.9: Talk

Tuesday, March 23, 2004, 18:30–18:45, HS 223

Observation of Superradiant Amplification of Ultrashort Laser Pulses in a Plasma — •Matthias Dreher and K.-J. Witte — MPI für Quantenoptik, Garching

We demonstrate the amplification of a femtosecond signal pulse in an underdense plasma by a novel mechanism called superradiant amlification. The pulse is amlified by a counterpropagating few picosecond long pump pulse. In the superradiant regime the ponderomotive ponderomotive forces exceed the electrostatic forces. We found a significant amplification in energy and intensity. The time structure of the amplified signal pulse carries intrinsic features of the superradiant regime. It appears that sub-10-fs pulses of Petawatt power are achievable.