“Relativistic nanophotonics: creating extreme plasma conditions and fields with ultrafast lasers”

Jorge Rocca

Colorado State University

Monday December 2nd, 2019 at 4:00 PM

120 Engineering (Hammond Auditorium)

Efficient heating of dense matter to extreme temperatures and pressures could create solid density environments in which heavy atoms such as gold are stripped of most of their electrons. Such ultra high energy density environments exist in the center of starts but are difficult to create in the laboratory. Using one of the world’s most intense lasers, ALEPH (Advance Laser for Extreme Photonics) developed at CSU, we have demonstrated that high contrast femtosecond laser pulses of relativistic intensity can volumetrically heat solid density matter into a new ultra-hot plasma regime. [Read More…]