Realization of laser intensity over 10²³  W/cm²

Abstract

High-intensity lasers are critical for the exploration of strong field quantum electrodynamics. We report here a demonstration of laser intensity exceeding 1 0 23 W / c m 2 with the CoReLS petawatt (PW) laser. After wavefront correction and tight focusing with a two-stage adaptive optical system and an f/1.1 ( f = 300 m m ) off-axis parabolic mirror, we obtained near diffraction-limited focusing with a spot size of 1.1 µm (FWHM). From the measurement of 80 consecutive laser shots at 0.1 Hz, we achieved a peak intensity of ( 1.1 ± 0.2 ) × 1 0 23 W / c m 2 , verifying the applicability of the ultrahigh intensity PW laser for ultrahigh intensity laser–matter interactions. From the statistical analysis of the PW laser shots, we identified that the intensity fluctuation originated from air turbulence in the laser beam path and beam pointing. Our achievement could accelerate the study of strong field quantum electrodynamics by enabling exploration of nonlinear Compton scattering and Breit–Wheeler pair production.

Gamma-ray flash in the interaction of a tightly focused single-cycle ultra-intense laser pulse with a solid target

“…For comparison, a record intensity of has been recently reported for a laser (Yoon et al. 2021). Although generation of pulses by optical means is challenging, this can also be realised by plasma-based techniques (Mourou et al.…”

High-intensity laser-driven secondary radiation sources using the ZEUS 45 TW laser system at the Institute of Plasma Physics and Lasers of the Hellenic Mediterranean University Research Centre

“…Applications of high-intensity lasers rely on the better understanding of basic science phenomena, without which, it would not be possible to develop applications. Chirped Pulsed Amplification (CPA) [2] has enabled the development of short laser pulses that can be Accepted manuscript currently focused at intensities up to 10 23 W/cm 2 [3]. At such intensities even a proton will start to quiver relativistically in the electric field of a laser.…”

Enhancement of pre-pulse and picosecond pedestal contrast of the petawatt J-KAREN-P laser

“…With the remarkable progress in chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) technology and Ti:sapphire laser media, femtosecond lasers with very high peak powers of petawatt (PW) to 10 PW [1][2][3][4][5][6] have been developed around the world and extremely high intensities of 10 22 W/cm 2 to 10 23 W/cm 2 [7][8][9] are now available. Owing to the limitation of the available size and transverse parasitic oscillation in the Ti:sapphire gain media, femtosecond lasers based on optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier (OPCPA) with a peak power of order 100 PW have been designed and are under construction [10,11].…”