Generation and Applications of High-Intensity Femtosecond Laser Pulses

Abstract

Recent developments of laser technology have made it possible to produce light intensities of 10¹⁵-10¹⁸ W/cm², where the high-frequency radiation field becomes comparable to or in excess of the typical atomic Coulomb field. This paper describes the generation of high- intensity femtosecond laser pulses based on tunable solid-state lasers and reviews typical highfield phenomena such as optical-field induced ionization (OFI) of atoms, high-order harmonic generation in atomic gases, and x-ray lasers using OFI processes.