Short Pulse Laser Inter Matter

Short Pulse Laser Inter MatterThis book represents the first comprehensive treatment of the subject, covering the theoretical principles, present experimental status and important applications of short pulse laser matter interactions. Femtosecond lasers have undergone dramatic technological advances over the last fifteen years, generating a whole host of new research activities under the theme of "ultrafast science". The focused light from these devices is so intense that ordinary

This book represents the first comprehensive treatment of the subject, covering the theoretical principles, present experimental status and important applications of short-pulse laser-matter interactions.Femtosecond lasers have undergone dramatic technological advances over the last fifteen years, generating a whole host of new research activities under the theme of "ultrafast science". The focused light from these devices is so intense that ordinary matter is torn apart within a few laser cycles. This book takes a close-up look at the exotic physical phenomena which arise as a result of this new form of "light-matter" interaction, covering a diverse set of topics including multiphoton ionization, rapid heatwaves, fast particle generation and relativistic self-channeling. These processes are central to a number of exciting new applications in other fields, such as microholography, optical particle accelerators and photonuclear physics.Repository for numerical models described in Chapter 6 can be found at www.fz-juelich.de/zam/cams/plasma/SPLIM/.