Ultraintense lasers: relativistic nonlinear optics and applications

Traditional optics and nonlinear optics are related to laser–matter interaction with eV characteristic energy. Recent progresses in ultrahigh intensity makes it possible to drive electrons with relativistic energy opening up the field of relativistic nonlinear optics. In the last decade, lasers have undergone orders-of-magnitude jumps in peak power, with the invention of the technique of chirped pulse amplification (CPA) and the refinements of femtosecond techniques. Modern CPA lasers can produce intensities greater than 10²¹ W/cm², one million times greater than previously possible. These ultraintense lasers give researchers a tool to produce unprecedented pressures (terabars), magnetic fields (gigagauss), temperatures (10¹⁰ K), and accelerations (10²⁵ g) with applications in fusion energy, nuclear physics (fast ignition), high-energy physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. They promote the optics field from the eV to the GeV.