Abstract
Since T. Maiman invented laser a half century ago, the technology has been made rapid progress. Today
extremely intense laser with > 1024 W/cm2 is expected to open new paradigm of such high fi eld science
as ion acceleration in ultrarelativistic regime, attosecond physics, and nonlinear QED with high potential
for broad applications. A tight race is now running all over the world to develop large research
infrastructures of Exawatt-class laser. Such European high power laser projects as ELI, IZEST, and
XCELS, that are in progress, are overviewed.
