Exploring the world of ultra-intense laser plasma interactions
Exploring the world of ultra-intense laser plasma interactions
- Event time: 1:00pm until 2:00pm
- Event date: 2nd February 2024
- Speaker: Kate Lancaster (University of York)
- Location: Higgs Centre Seminar Room, Room 4305, James Clerk Maxwell Building (JCMB) (James Clerk Maxwell Building (JCMB)) James Clerk Maxwell Building Peter Guthrie Tait Road Edinburgh EH9 3FD GB
Event details
Ultra-intense laser interactions with matter give us a route to produce some of the most extreme conditions on earth. When these lasers are focused onto solid material, the electric fields associated with the laser are so strong that the atoms in the material become readily ionised to create plasma. These intense lasers only penetrate a short distance into the material that they are striking, limiting the amount of energy that can be readily absorbed. Mega-Amp currents of fast electrons are driven into the target and these electrons transport energy deeper into the material. The fast electrons are the driver of much of the downstream physics and so the study of these electrons is of great interest. The potential impact of this work is broad and exciting from high-gain Inertial Confinement Fusion approaches to developing bright, ultra-short sources of radiation for non-destructive testing and medicine.
Event resources
About Higgs Centre colloquia
The Higgs Centre Colloquia are a fortnightly series of talks aimed at a wide-range of topical Theoretical Physics issues..