"Laser Particle Acceleration: Status and Perspectives for Nuclear Physics"
Peter Thirolf, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich
(id #50)
Seminar: No
Poster: No
Invited talk: Yes
High power short-pulse lasers with peak powers presently reaching Terawatts and even Petawatt levels routinely reach focal intensities of
10^18 - 10^21 W/cm^2. These lasers are able to produce a wide array of
secondary radiation, from relativistic electrons and multi-MeV/nucleon ions to high-energetic X-rays and gamma-rays. In many laboratories world-wide large resources are presently devoted to a rapid development of this novel tool of particle acceleration, targeting fundamental and high-field physics studies as well as various applications e.g. in medical technology for diagnostics and tumor therapy. Within the next 5 years a new EU-funded large-scale research infrastructure (ELI: Extreme Light Infrastructure) will be constructed, with one of its four pillars exclusively devoted to nuclear physics based on high intensity lasers
(ELI-Nuclear Physics, which will be built in Bucharest). There the limits of laser intensity will be pushed by three orders of magnitude to yet unprecedented 10^24 W/cm^2.
The talk will review the present status of laser particle acceleration and give an outline of future perspectives for nuclear physics in fundamental and applied research.