title: Fast focusing of short-pulse lasers by innovative plasma optics toward extreme intensity.
abstract: We developed a compact plasma-based focusing optic that, in one step, increases the peak intensity of ultrahigh-intensity lasers without modifying the laser system itself. By using a plasma-based focusing optic with extremely small f-number (f/0.4), we have experimentally demonstrated a fivefold reduction of the focal spot size (from 4.4 to 0.9 microm), thus producing an at least eightfold enhancement of the laser light intensity. This innovative plasma-based optic opens the way for the study of high-energy-density and high-field science at intensities greater than presently available.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, UMR 7605, CNRS, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, and Université Paris VI, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France. motoaki.nakatsutsumi@polytechnique.edu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakatsutsumi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kon
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buffechoux
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Audebert
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kodama