Ultrahigh Intensity Laser

Dear Colleagues,

At the forefront of laser technology, the generation of ultrahigh intensities has always been a challenging task. Large-aperture optics require ultrahigh precision and high damage thresholds in order to be capable of handling very high pulse energies. Physical and manufacturing limitations lead to the need for phase correction methods in order to be able to optimize energy extraction from amplifiers. Advanced cooling schemes are applied to allow these lasers to run at reasonable repetition rates. Additionally, because short pulses have to be produced, all this must be wavelength agnostic in order to maximize the output bandwidth. Finally, stretched pulses have to be compressed to the shortest possible pulse widths. Fortunately, new schemes to overcome technical limitations were recently developed. Among others, the most successful technologies of that type were nonlinear optical parametric chirped pulse amplification, coherent combination of short pulses, and post pulse compression schemes. Since most applications in high-energy plasma physics, laser particle acceleration, or the generation of secondary radiation sources require extreme contrast between background and the laser pulse itself, additional pulse cleaning methods must be used. Other applications may require synchronized intensive pulses at different wavelengths or different pulse widths. Therefore, laser physicists must now be able to address these special demands with a sophisticated toolset of laser pulse generation and modification techniques.

This Special Issue is dedicated to all of these advanced technologies as well as new developments and their underlying physics that lead to the highest laser pulse intensities for any kind of application. Moreover, since even applications in fundamental research demand powerful pulsed lasers with higher repetition rates, the topic of how to further increase the average power of femtosecond lasers will also be covered.

Dr. Joachim Hein
Guest Editor

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• large-aperture pulsed high-energy lasers
• ultrashort pulse laser technology
• new pulse compression schemes
• laser pulse contrast enhancement technologies
• post pulse compression
• advanced technologies for increasing pulsed laser repetition rates
• metrology for ultrashort pulse lasers
• ultra-broad-band laser amplifiers
• laser materials for high-energy or broad-band laser pulse amplification
• diode pumped high-energy lasers
• advanced flashlamp pumped solid-state lasers
• improvements in high-power laser diodes
• advanced laser cooling technologies
• optical parametric chirped pulse amplification
• optical elements like modulators or adaptive optics with large aperture
• large-aperture gratings and optics
• laser damage threshold improvements
• measurement and control of spectral phase
• nonlinear optical crystals for high-energy or ultrashort pulses
• coherent laser combination
• coherently combined high-power femtosecond fiber lasers
• laser pulse stabilization and synchronization
• high-intensity wavelength conversion