Fast focusing of short-pulse lasers by innovative plasma optics toward extreme intensity.
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.
Nakatsutsumi
M
M
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
Kon
A
A
Buffechoux
S
S
Audebert
P
P
Fuchs
J
J
Kodama
R
R