Stronger and faster: new approaches to extreme light sources

The increase in laser intensities has given rise to a vast range of applications.

In order to make further progress and, in particular, create compact radiation and particle sources using lasers, we intend to develop new computational tools in close proximity to experiments.

Such tools will be aimed at optimizing the interaction between short, ultra-intense laser pulses with materials and beams, in order to transform and compress the laser light into radiation with new and extreme properties. Creating short bursts of high-energy radiation is a key concept for understanding and controlling ultrafast processes.

In order to take these concepts even further, we intend to find interaction regimes where we can generate the shorterst and most intense X-rays ever produced, allowing e.g. XUV radiation to accelerate electrons to relativistic speeds.

This will be made possible using a combination of recent computational data, in collaboration with direct experiments in the relevant parameter regimes.

This will enable completely new applications, such as nonlinear XUV physics, laser wakefield acceleration of electrons in solids, core electron studies, and attosecond X-ray diffraction.

The implications for doing studies in fundamental physics, such as controlled pair plasma generation and nonperturbative quantum electrodynamics, will be investigated.