Next-gen laser facilities look to usher in new era of relativistic plasmas research
Tuesday, May 26, 2020 - 10:20
in Physics & Chemistry
The subject of the 2018 Nobel Prize in physics, chirped pulse amplification is a technique that increases the strength of laser pulses in many of today's highest-powered research lasers. As next-generation laser facilities look to push beam power up to 10 petawatts, physicists expect a new era for studying plasmas, whose behavior is affected by features typically seen in black holes and the winds from pulsars.