Developments in Relativistic Nonlinear Optics

Authors

• Donald P. Umstadter, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Sudeep Banerjee, Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, University of Michigan, Ann ArborFollow
• Shouyuan Chen, Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, University of Michigan, Ann ArborFollow
• E. Dodd, Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• K. Flippo, Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Anatoly Maksimchuk, University of MichiganFollow
• N. Saleh, Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• A. Valenzuela, Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• P. Zhang, Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

11-20-2002

Comments

American Institute of Physics. Proc. 611, 95 (2002). Copyright 2002. Permission to use. http://proceedings.aip.org/proceedings/cpcr.jsp.

Abstract

We report recent results of experiments and simulations in the regime of peak laser intensities above 10¹⁹ W/cm², including the following topics: (1) electron and proton acceleration to energies in excess of 10 MeV in well collimated beams; (2) use of laser chirp to control the growth of plasma waves and acceleration of electrons by the Raman instability; (3) all optical injection and acceleration of electrons; (4) relativistic self-focusing by means of the mutual index of refraction of two overlapping laser pulses; (5) creation of a radioisotope by the reaction ¹⁰B(d,n)¹¹C; (6) high-order harmonic generation from relativistic free electrons in an underdense plasma.