Düsseldorf 2007 – scientific programme

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SYRL: Symposium Relativistische Laserplasmen

SYRL 1: Relativistische Laserplasmen

SYRL 1.3: Invited Talk

Friday, March 23, 2007, 11:30–12:00, 6C

The new world of relativistic laser plasmas and applications — •Juergen Meyer-ter-Vehn — Max-Planck-Institute for Quantum Optics, Garching, Germany

Ultra-short high-power laser pulses with intensities beyond 10¹⁸ W/cm² now drive target electrons to the velocity of light and create dense relativistic plasmas in table-top experiments. The relativistic interaction with gas and solid targets leads to a number of surprising new phenomena, which were first predicted by numerical simulation and have now been impressively confirmed in experiments. Well collimated, ultra-bright electron (up to GeV energy) and ion beams have been observed. They are accelerated over hundreds of micrometer rather than hundreds of meter as in conventional accelerators. High laser harmonics up to keV energies involving ultra-bright attosecond pulses have been created at plasma surfaces acting as relativistic mirrors. Physics and applications are discussed in this talk.