Abstract

Recent progress in the generation and amplification of femtosecond pulses has made it possible to achieve peak powers of the order of tens of terawatts with relatively modest laser energy (<10 J). As a result, compact, multiterawatt lasers can be built at modest expense. Such lasers are of great interest for relativistic laser-plasma interaction research, for production of ultrafast X-rays, hard x-rays and -y-rays for radiography, and for advanced electron acceleration research.

© 1999 Optical Society of America