Cutting Edge Research

At the core of our research is the study of the interactions of ultra-high intensity, ultra-short pulse laser light with solid targets. Under the everyday conditions to which we are accustomed, the behavior of light with its surroundings is rather unremarkable. The scattering of sunlight via microscopic particles in the atmosphere makes the sky blue. The process of photosynthesis in plants owes its efficiency to the fact that plant cells have evolved to utilize the exact spectrum output by our sun. As humans, we perceive the sensation of warmth when light from the sun interacts with our skin. In every case, a transfer of energy from the photons in the light to molecules is involved. As interesting and important to life on earth as these processes might be, there exists no naturally-occuring, terrestrial process that compares with the feats we are able to manage in the laboratory.

The advancement of ultra-fast laser technologies has allowed for the development of table-top systems that produce star-like conditions. Modern ultra-short pulse lasers have the ability to produce light at intensities commonly exceeding 10¹⁸ W/cm² and up. In comparison, light from the sun has an intensity of about 10² W/cm² at the surface of the earth, depending on the observer's location and the time of year. This is a jump of 16 orders of magnitude in intensity! The laser system we operate is capable of generating focused, coherent light pulses with durations on the order of femtoseconds (10^-15 seconds). Consequently, we can generate light with intensities that reach greater than 10²⁰ W/cm². Indeed, light at these intensities interacts with matter via mechanisms far from ordinary.

At this point, it is valuable to emphasize just how matter is affected by light of such intensities. A plasma plume is created when an ultra-intense laser pulse strikes a surface. Plasma, the fourth state of matter, as well as the most abundant form of visible matter in the universe, can be visualized as a sea of negatively-charged electrons and positively-charged ions. The scattering and absorption of laser light by plasma modifies the interactions of laser light with the target. Therefore, in the experiments we conduct, we are often concerned with understanding the laser-plasma interactions that result due to induced phase transitions in the materials that we study.

The focus of our work is experimental in nature, and we have invested a significant amount of resources in the construction of a start-of-the-art clean room and laser bay for our new laboratory. You can view a more complete specification of our laser chain here. We also have a computational modeling effort.

Our work doesn't end here. Novel research in the High Energy Density Physics field is performed at exciting locations all over the world. We are proud of our diverse scientific collaborations with notable academic institutes, private industry, and government laboratories, including

• University of California: San Diego, San Diego, California
• University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
• General Atomics, San Diego, California
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Jupiter Laser Facility), Livermore, California
• Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxfordshire, England
• Sandia National Laboratory (New Mexico), Albuquerque, New Mexico
• University of Michigan - Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, Ann Arbor, Michigan
• University of Rochester - Laboratory for Laser Energetics, Rochester, New York
• Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio
• University of Osaka Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka, Japan

Our research is funded by