Passion for Extreme Light
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SchneckengetriebeBauxitbergbauInertial navigation systemNightFACTS (newspaper)LightLecture/ConferenceMeeting/Interview
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TemperatureQuantum information scienceQuantumOpticsUltraParticle acceleratorAtomFACTS (newspaper)PhotonComputer animationLecture/Conference
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Ultra high frequencyVermittlungseinrichtungElementary particleLightLecture/Conference
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TemperatureQuantum information scienceQuantumOpticsUltraAtomNuclear powerContinuum mechanicsFiat PandaHorn antennaLightParticleAmplitudePressureAccelerationTemperatureLightLaserApparent magnitudeSpeckle imagingParticle physicsAzimuth thrusterPower (physics)WindUniverseAutumnNatürliche RadioaktivitätElectromagnetic radiationComputer animationLecture/ConferenceMeeting/Interview
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PaketvermittlungIntensity (physics)LightShort circuitMeasurementOpticsModel buildingPolarisierte StrahlungVakuumphysikTransverse modeIntensity (physics)YearLaserRemotely operated underwater vehicleLecture/Conference
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SaturdayLocal Interconnect NetworkVermittlungseinrichtungInertial navigation systemWill-o'-the-wispMountainVakuumphysikPolarisierte StrahlungIntensity (physics)Short circuitLightPaketvermittlungMode-lockingOpticsYearLaserPlanetLecture/ConferenceMeeting/Interview
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Noise (electronics)AntiparticleLaserLaserIntensity (physics)Lecture/Conference
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PaketvermittlungVakuumphysikPolarisierte StrahlungMode-lockingThin filmIntensity (physics)LightShort circuitElectronOptics
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Inertial navigation systemAntenna (radio)Intensity (physics)LightShort circuitWill-o'-the-wispVakuumphysikPolarisierte StrahlungOpticsPaketvermittlungMode-lockingForceElectronTone (linguistics)Speed of lightRestkernPurpleIntensity (physics)FahrgeschwindigkeitColor chargeLaserLightLecture/Conference
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Gas compressorOpticsAir compressorGameOpticsFACTS (newspaper)
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SchneckengetriebeCapillary actionLaserGas compressorSingle (music)Atom laserWorkshopSpaceflightFACTS (newspaper)Single (music)Group delay and phase delayCogenerationOrder and disorder (physics)LaserCapillary actionGlassNoble gasModulationFiberMechanical fanDayIntensity (physics)LaserMeasurementGemstonePlatingRailroad carGlobal warmingTuesdayYearGasTelephoneAtom laserLecture/Conference
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GenerationFiat 500 (2007)Single (music)ThorThermographic cameraNuclear transmutationFinger protocolNuclear powerLightCPAVermittlungseinrichtungNeutronReaction (physics)Nuclear fissionReamerTissue paperOptical cavityAtom laserWoodturningNeutronParticle physicsOrder and disorder (physics)ForceGenerationThin filmMicrowaveRadiation therapyElectronElementary particleIntensity (physics)Flight simulatorNanotechnologyVisibilityGameBombAccelerationRailroad carCell (biology)LightAngeregter ZustandCardinal directionFinger protocolQuality (business)Spare partCabin (truck)
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Transcript: English(auto-generated)
00:13
I'm going to tell you about my, oh gee,
00:21
really, this passion about extreme light. And also I'm going to describe a little bit what is ahead of us. So, that's one thing about, which is I was always impressed by light, is the fact that the number of things you could do with it,
00:42
and this number of things you could do is due to one thing at least, many things, but the fact that you take one EV photon, which was first produced by Ted Neumann here, and you can use this one EV photon really to slow down the particles,
01:05
okay, and you can slow down now to something like PEV, Pico-EV, or what you can do is you can use this same light, one EV light,
01:20
to accelerate particles, you know, to the speed of light, you know, to the other limits. So, this is phenomenal, and you see, we have something like about 25, I don't know if I'm going to use this thing, if it's better for me to, let's see,
01:45
so between this point to this one is about, you know, 24 orders of magnitude, 12 orders of magnitude in one way, 12 orders of magnitude the other way, and this is amazing, and this of course explains why laser physics is so rich.
02:06
Anyway, so what is impressive with extreme light is this light is capable of producing the largest big power, the largest temperature,
02:20
the largest pressure, the largest acceleration, the largest field, and it is a universal source of high energy particles and radiation. Now, this is my curve showing, you know, the intensity as a function of years.
02:41
So, when the laser was demonstrated by Ted Mammon, the intensity was in a range of, sorry, it's not easy to use this. Okay, the intensity, I hope you see it,
03:01
it was in a range of 10 to the 8 watt per square centimeter, and that was enough, really like Donna said, that was enough to generate second harmonics, and for the first time by Peter Franken. And so we quickly climbed this slope,
03:23
you know, and by switching, by unlocking, and so on, and then we came to a stop. That was described by Donna very, very well. We were breaking down the material, or you were breaking down, you know, the very nice beams
03:40
that you have produced by the laser. And then, so we had in 1985, we had this big plateau, and in 1985 the CPA was demonstrated by Donna, and then the intensity was now starting to take off, okay.
04:02
And by, so we, by shortening pulses, by adding some more energy, and we were able now to go to much, much higher energy. So we now, with this extreme light infrastructure,
04:26
which are built in Romania, in Hungary, in Prague, you know, we can really go, we are planning to go to 10 to the 25 watt per square centimeter. So it's a huge, enormous step between 10 to the 15,
04:42
where we were before, and now 10 to the 25. But also, you know, of course, I was, I would like to go higher, okay. And because you have here, just, you know, of course in each area, this is a green for instance,
05:06
I mean, as you increase the intensities, you are changing, of course, the laser matter interactions, okay. So you go from a relativistic regime. A relativistic regime is where you have the electrons,
05:23
which oscillates around the nucleus, becomes, you know, now is going at the speed of light, okay. When you are here, you know, in a purple area, the electrons, the velocity of the electrons is very small,
05:43
compared to the speed of light. And this is the reason why you don't use just, you are using the force applied to the electron equal to Qe, the charge of the electron times the field.
06:01
When you are in this green area, well, the velocity now of the electrons is huge, which is the speed of light. So this V over C becomes close to unity. Anyway, so you are in this regime,
06:21
and you are going to see some very, very important applications, but, you know, not only electron acceleration and so on. Now, at 10 to the 24th, well, you have now the protons, protons which are, of course, much bigger,
06:40
2,000 times bigger than the electrons almost. And so this time, of course, you start now, the electrons start to become, the protons start to become relativistic. Now, above this, this you have also a fascinating field,
07:01
is the interaction of light with vacuum, okay? Well, you start ready to polarize the vacuum, you know, and so on. And after that, once the light is polarized the vacuum, if you push, if you go even to higher intensity,
07:23
then the vacuum, you know, breaks down, you know, and you breaks down in particle and tabard particles, and you are materializing the vacuum. And this is happening at 10 to the 29th,
07:41
what we call Schrodinger field and so on. So this, now, we are here, 10 to the 24th, 10 to the 25th, you like to be at 10 to the 29th at the Schrodinger field. How can you do that? If you do with the energy, of course, it's going to cost you a bundle of money
08:03
because energy is what is costly, okay? Let me, yeah. But you could also say, well, you know, power, because it's what I want,
08:22
you know, it's energy divided by time. So if you go by the energy, it costs a ton of money, but you could also shrink the durations to very small value,
08:41
and then you will increase the peak power, okay? And that will be less costly, okay? And so this is what I call my shortcut here, and this is the Lambda Cube, I call that Lambda Cube shortcut because in this regime, in order to go there,
09:04
I mean, basically all the light is going to be packed into a short pulse, which is limited by the pulse duration, period of light, over the dimensions across the beam,
09:21
which is going to be also limited by the wavelength of light. So it's a Lambda Cube. So that's the goal now. The goal is to shrink the pulse, okay? But because you are dealing with kilojoule or so, many joules at least, you know, of course it offers some difficulties.
09:47
And so let me talk about pulse compression. So this is the name of the game now. It's really to take our typical short pulses, now it's about 20, 30 femtoseconds, this kind of thing,
10:01
and this 20 femtosecond pulse, in fact, is composed of about 10 optical cycles, okay? And now the name of the game is trying to push, to really take this 10 cycle and try to make one, okay? And of course, obviously, you are now going to amplify the pulse,
10:22
you know, accordingly by the number of cycles. So you are going to have 10 times more field, 10 times more intensity, and so on. So now I'm fortunate because Donna explained very, very well
10:40
pulse compressions. We are also, for what I'm going to describe, going to use self-phase modulation and explain it, and group velocity dispersion, she did also explain it. And so we are going to use self-phase modulation
11:02
for the same reason Donna did it, to broaden the pulse durations, okay? We need to broaden the pulse durations to many times, and this is what we are going to do to get into the short pulse regime, the single cycle regime. And so this technique in fact came some time ago
11:29
by Grisgoski, Shanks and Nippon and so on, and they started to use the fibers, but then after that the fiber could admit only, could tolerate only nanojoules, pulses.
11:44
So in order to go higher, you know, people like Oracios-Veltou and Fehring-Kraus and so on, now use capillaries to guide the beam, and capillary was filled with noble gases.
12:04
Now, and that is, we are millijoule, now as I say, you lack ready to compress joules, 10 joules, maybe kilojoules, okay? And so you cannot really use capillaries anymore, but what, you are using one thing.
12:21
These high-intensity lasers, which are in fact high-energy lasers, also, in order to get a large energy, you have to have flat top. And the flat top is nice, because now if I'm using glass plates, or films, in fact, also plastic films,
12:46
I will have, I can generate, if I have a top hat, I can generate, you know, this, the surface modulations and group velocities, you know, would be uniform across the beam.
13:05
Okay, this is the laser, and just very quickly, so the way we do it, we take the pulse from the short pulse, from the laser,
13:20
if you go to, I'm trying to use this, but this is not, take the short pulse, and going into a first film, first plate, and then we are producing surface modulations, also subjecting the film, the pulse to group velocities person,
13:42
and then we have, now we go into pulse cleaner, and so on, and then we have a compressor, we can compress the pulse with what we call chirp mirrors, and then we go from 25 femtoseconds to 5 femtoseconds.
14:03
And then we repeat that again, and we go from 5 femtoseconds to about 2 or so femtoseconds, and this is done by, so this is really a single cycle now, almost single cycle.
14:25
By the way, one of the students here is Gabriel Pessrisseau, who is doing this experiment, you know, right now. So this is what we get, and we start in black, you see you have the black curve is the initial pulse,
14:42
25 femtoseconds, and then the red, the 5 femtoseconds, and the blue, the final few picoseconds, single cycle. Okay, this is now, you know, this is a simulation, but we are really showing it, and it's going very, very well. Okay, now what do we do, so what we are at 1 femtosecond,
15:08
or 2 femtoseconds, and we like to go much, much shorter in order to scale up the power, and so we are using a technique what we call electrolytic compression technique,
15:21
where we are taking now a single cycle pulse, and we send the pulse, you know, on the target, the target is composed of electrons and protons, light electrons, heavy protons,
15:41
and so this huge electromagnetic field is going to, when it's focused over lambda, okay, it's going to lead to push this electron forward, and the ions are going to stay backward, so you are going to set up a huge, huge DC field, okay,
16:06
and this DC field, or quasi-DC field, is going to really bring the electron back, okay, at the speed of light. So this electron now goes back at the speed of light,
16:21
and acts as a mirror, a relativistic mirror, in fact, and this is going to compress the pulse, and it compresses the pulse according to Natalia Nomova, 20 years ago or so,
16:41
did these simulations where she showed that the pulse compression is basically, the pulse compression, 600 over a knot. In fact, a knot or a knot square, okay, and so we are going to use this, and to our advantage,
17:02
and if you, this is a simulation, okay, we are not here, but I mean, but if you, we have a knot of 10 to the 3, a knot square is 10 to the 6th, you can go to the single zep to second, but of course, if we have 100 or 100 zep to second,
17:21
we'll be very happy, but that's the idea, okay. Now what is nice is, what is nice about zep to second, is one thing, okay, first I mean, you can really produce enormous, enormous power with a single joule, you know, a small amount of energy,
17:42
then in a zep to second, of course, you have zeta watts, laser, 10 to the 21 watt, but what is nice is now this pulse, in fact, is coherent x-ray or even gamma rays, okay.
18:02
So it's really very, very nice, and you are going to see that if we are using now this x-ray, this high x-ray gamma rays, then we can accelerate particles. We can accelerate particles with gradients
18:23
of the order of TeV per centimeter, okay. I'm sure if Wolf Royer is here, he's going to be, you know, happy to hear this. So, and of course, because the pulse is very short,
18:41
so we can really focus the beam, we could focus the beam to very small wavelength. I have to say this is a problem because we have to invent the optics now, but anyway. So, but now at 10 to the 29, we could return matter into antimatter.
19:02
Okay, so we, so now let's try to use these short pulses to accelerate particles. This we are using a technique, which was really proposed in 1979 by my good friend Toshita Jima and Dawson, 1979 again,
19:24
and it's very simple, embarrassingly simple. You take the short pulse, and you focus the short pulse into a jet of gases, and you are going to produce a plasma, a plasma wave.
19:42
And this plasma wave, the electrons, you know, some of the electrons are going to be trapped into plasma wave and dragged at the speed of light by this plasma wave, produced by laser. And you can get something like GeV per centimeter now,
20:04
which is phenomenal, okay. Now, what is exciting, of course, we are never satisfied. We are scientists. We want always to push the limit. And so this is, so far this technique,
20:24
this laser wake-field acceleration is being used right now by hundreds of laboratory in the world. Works very well, okay. In the visible. So now what we like to do, because we just demonstrated a way
20:41
to produce short x-ray pulse, high intensity. I like to, we like to use this x-ray to drive, to drive wake-field in solid. Why do you want to do that in solids? Solids is because the gain energy
21:01
is basically proportional to n critical, okay, which is set, which is set, of course, by the wavelength of light divided over the electron density in the medium. So if you have, in the visible,
21:23
n critical is 10 to the 21, okay. So in order to make this ratio very large, you have to work at very low pressure, and that's not really comfortable. But anyway, I mean, we can do it, and we can get this GeV per centimeters.
21:42
Now, if you are in the x-ray regime, of course, n critical is much higher. It's in 10 to 29 also, okay, very high, okay. And the density of electron is 10 to the 23, so you have this gigantic sixth order of magnitude, okay.
22:04
So now you can, you can, we can make a jump from a GeV to the TeV per centimeters, phenomenal. So, so for me, if you take the CERN ring,
22:24
the LHC's ring, and all that, all fire is with us, you take the, this is a TeV, of course, it's 27 kilometers, 27 kilometers, because you are using kind of microwave, microwave wave to do that.
22:44
Now, if you are using microwave cavities, okay, now if you are using lasers, okay, so you go from microwave regime at 10 to the 9 or so hertz, you go into 10 to the 15 hertz,
23:02
10 to the 15 hertz, yeah, beta hertz. So, then you could reduce the size, I mean, you could get the same thing with over hundreds of meters, very compact.
23:21
Now, of course, if you, if we are able really to demonstrate Wakefield with X-rays in solid, then, you know, it becomes a TeV per centimeter, you have LHC on the finger, okay. This is really a very important goal.
23:43
And so, now, of course, I mean, you could do, this is fascinating, because you could have really very important application in astrophysics, because now you could really produce on Earth, you know, these very high energy particles,
24:01
which are impossible to produce now, which are only produced in the cosmos somewhere. So, you could really study these high energy particles. And also, you could try to understand some of the things which are happening in GRB, in gamma ray burst, okay,
24:23
where they observe a dispersion of the spectrum, you know, as a propagate of a billion years. Here we could really, if we have septuosecond pulses, we could compactify the cosmos, you know, in some way,
24:42
and try to put on a table in the laboratory some of the cosmos. You see, we have no ambitions. So, that's very exciting. Also, the other nice thing is the fact that,
25:00
you know, if you accelerate, as I said, you know, over septuosecond, or even attuosecond, particle to the speed of light, that corresponds to enormous, enormous accelerations. If we evoked now the equivalent principle from Einstein, we see accelerations,
25:22
you know, equal gravities. So, you are, in fact, trying to, you could really simulate very large black holes on table. That's very exciting too. One thing also, you know, these are really the kind of applications
25:43
I edited to application in science, but there are also some very important applications in societal application as well of this extreme light. One application is, I have to talk about that,
26:04
also generations of high energy protons, and high energy protons are very, very useful for society, in general, and can be produced, if you have very high intensities, by thin films, thin films of plastics, or whatever, metals,
26:28
and if you are focusing this high intensity over thin films, then you are pushing the electrons, and like a horse pulling a car,
26:43
you know, these electrons are pulling the proton behind. And so you can relatively easily produce very high energy protons, and the shorter the pulse, the better it is, okay?
27:04
And we did some simulations, you know, with long pulse, but in the visible 16 cycles, 4 cycles, 1 cycle in red, and you see that even 1 cycle in red, with a modest amount of energy,
27:21
we can get proton accelerated to relativistic value. This is very, very important. We now, in order to do the same thing, okay, it will take really accelerate, if you want to accelerate particles to relativistic value,
27:46
then it will take very large accelerator. This one is for the Mira project, I think. It's about 600 meter long, stuffed by cavities, you know, microwave cavities.
28:03
So, and I, you know, of course, this is very costly. Now, you know, having protons, you can do many things, okay? And one very famous one is, of course, or attractive one, is proton therapy.
28:22
Proton therapy, you know, is much better than x-ray therapy or electron therapy because they don't really burn the tissues between the tumor where you're focusing your beam,
28:43
you know, the tissue before are not affected, okay? And that, of course, is very, very important. And, of course, you know that, you know, in medicines, nuclear, it's extremely used pharmacology,
29:09
I was going to say, is really used, you know, in therapy, diagnostics and so on. So, it's very important to be able really to produce radio isotopes and so on.
29:21
And with lasers in the hospital, you could really do that on the spot, maybe near the patient's bed. So, and now is a very, very important application, and this one is something which is really, I believe now, because we have a tool, we know how to produce protons,
29:48
and in a relatively simple way is, I would like to use this, we would like to use these protons, which in turn can make neutrons,
30:01
so we can make neutrons and use these neutrons to mitigate nuclear waste and by using transportation, okay? So, the idea is, you know, in nuclear waste product,
30:21
you have four bad guys, really, nepunium, americium, and nepunium, americium, and there's plutonium also, I forgot the fourth one, anyway.
30:41
So, what you want to do is really to produce neutrons, and these neutrons you can fission, you know, with the nucleus of this material, and you end up with fission product, and the fission product have relatively low,
31:02
I mean, very, very low lifetimes. You go from million of years to minutes or maybe years, somewhat very significantly shorter than what you start with. And with that, you know, I'm going to stop here, okay?
31:22
Thank you very much.