With the invention of the chirped pulse amplification (CPA) technology more than 10 years ago, a new generation of lasers appear. Based on this technology, people are now capable of dealing with lasers which can deliver laser pulses at a duration of a few laser cycles (several femtoseconds), at a petawatt level, and over the intensity 1020 W/cm2. The studies of laser interaction with matter by use of ultra-short intense lasers have attracted great interest world wide, partially because this kind of lasers can be built within a small dimension and at a reasonable cost. Numerous of applications have been proposed based upon these studies.

    The group on high field laser physics at the Institute of Physics, CAS, was establish in 1999. Our research includes the development of new ultra-short intense laser systems, the technology of ultra-short lasers and its applications, the interactions of laser radiation with matter, and their various applications in X-ray lasers, table-top plasma-based particle accelerations, ultra-short X/γ - ray sources, laboratory astrophysics, the Fast Ignition of fusion targets and related topics, etc.

 

Jie Zhang
Academician
Group Leader for High Field Physics

Laser Propulsion