The availability of ever stronger, laser-generated electromagnetic fields underpins continuing progress in the study and application of nonlinear phenomena in basic physical systems, ranging from molecules and atoms to relativistic plasmas and quantum electrodynamics. This raises the question: how far will we be able to go with future lasers? One exciting prospect is the attainment of field strengths approaching the Schwinger critical field ${E}_{\mathrm{cr}}$ in the laboratory frame, such that the field invariant ${E}^2-{c}^2{B}^2>{E}_{\mathrm{cr}}^2$ is reached. The feasibility of doing so has been questioned, on the basis that cascade generation of dense electron–positron plasma would inevitably lead to absorption or screening of the incident light. Here we discuss the potential for future lasers to overcome such obstacles, by combining the concept of multiple colliding laser pulses with that of frequency upshifting via a tailored laser–plasma interaction. This compresses the electromagnetic field energy into a region of nanometre size and attosecond duration, which increases the field magnitude at fixed power but also suppresses pair cascades. Our results indicate that laser facilities with peak power of tens of PW could be capable of reaching ${E}_{\mathrm{cr}}$. Such a scenario opens up prospects for the experimental investigation of phenomena previously considered to occur only in the most extreme environments in the universe.

Beam positioning stability in a laser-driven inertial confinement fusion (ICF) facility is a vital problem that needs to be fixed. Each laser beam in the facility is transmitted in lots of optics for hundreds of meters, and then targeted in a micro-sized pellet to realize controllable fusion. Any turbulence in the environment in such long-distance propagation would affect the displacement of optics and further result in beam focusing and positioning errors. This study concluded that the errors on each of the optics contributed to the target, and it presents an efficient method of enhancing the beam stability by eliminating errors on error-sensitive optics. Optimizations of the optical system and mechanical supporting structures are also presented.

With the development of ultraintense terawatt (TW) and petawatt (PW) laser systems, powerful terahertz (THz) radiation from laser–plasma interactions has been reported. Plasma-based THz systems, which are usually operated at extremely low repetition rates, call for single-shot diagnostics. In this paper, various state-of-the-art single-shot detection methods are introduced or designed for measurements and applications involved in high-power plasma-based THz sciences.

A single-frequency pulsed holmium-doped yttrium lithium fluoride (Ho:YLF) amplifier pumped by a Tm-doped fiber laser was demonstrated. The seed was an injection-seeded Q-switched Ho:YLF laser. The output energy from the single-frequency pulsed amplifier was 24.2 mJ, with a pulse width of 250 ns at a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of 100 Hz. The energy stability during 30 min was improved to 1% after the single-frequency pulsed Ho:YLF laser was amplified. The line width of the single-frequency pulsed spectrum of the Ho:YLF amplifier was 2.81 MHz. The single-frequency pulsed Ho:YLF amplifier can be applied to differential absorption lidar (DIAL), since its output spectrum is around the P12 CO2 absorption line.

The second and final year of the Erasmus Plus programme ‘Innovative Education and Training in high power laser plasmas’, otherwise known as PowerLaPs, is described. The PowerLaPs programme employs an innovative paradigm in that it is a multi-centre programme, where teaching takes place in five separate institutes with a range of different aims and styles of delivery. The ‘in-class’ time is limited to 4 weeks a year, and the programme spans 2 years. PowerLaPs aims to train students from across Europe in theoretical, applied and laboratory skills relevant to the pursuit of research in laser plasma interaction physics and inertial confinement fusion. Lectures are intermingled with laboratory sessions and continuous assessment activities. The programme, which is led by workers from the Hellenic Mediterranean University and supported by co-workers from the Queen’s University Belfast, the University of Bordeaux, the Czech Technical University in Prague, Ecole Polytechnique, the University of Ioannina, the University of Salamanca and the University of York, has just finished its second and final year. Six Learning Teaching Training activities have been held at the Queen’s University Belfast, the University of Bordeaux, the Czech Technical University, the University of Salamanca and the Institute of Plasma Physics and Lasers of the Hellenic Mediterranean University. The last of these institutes hosted two 2-week-long Intensive Programmes, while the activities at the other four universities were each 5 days in length. In addition, a ‘Multiplier Event’ was held at the University of Ioannina, which will be briefly described. In this second year, the work has concentrated on training in both experimental diagnostics and simulation techniques appropriate to the study of plasma physics, high power laser matter interactions and high energy density physics. The nature of the programme will be described in detail, and some metrics relating to the activities carried out will be presented. In particular, this paper will focus on the overall assessment of the programme.

Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in plasma in a non-eigenmode regime is studied theoretically and numerically. Different from normal SRS with the eigen electrostatic mode excited, the non-eigenmode SRS is developed at plasma density $n_{e}>0.25n_{c}$ when the laser amplitude is larger than a certain threshold. To satisfy the phase-matching conditions of frequency and wavenumber, the excited electrostatic mode has a constant frequency around half of the incident light frequency $\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}_{0}/2$, which is no longer the eigenmode of electron plasma wave $\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}_{pe}$. Both the scattered light and the electrostatic wave are trapped in plasma with their group velocities being zero. Super-hot electrons are produced by the non-eigen electrostatic wave. Our theoretical model is validated by particle-in-cell simulations. The SRS driven in this non-eigenmode regime is an important laser energy loss mechanism in the laser plasma interactions as long as the laser intensity is higher than $10^{15}~\text{W}/\text{cm}^{2}$.

In this paper, we report the study of degradation for a kind of ideal mandrel material called poly-α-methylstyrene based on theoretical and experimental methods. First-principles calculations reveal two types of process: depolymerization and hydrogen-transfer-induced chain scission. The energy barrier for the former (0.68–0.82 eV) is smaller than that for most of the latter (1.39–4.23 eV). More importantly, reaction rates suggest that the former is fast whereas the latter is mostly slow, which can result in a difference of 5–31 orders of magnitude at 550 K. Furthermore, a thermogravimetric experiment shows that the activation energy of 2.53 eV for degradation is between those of fast and slow processes, corresponding to the theoretical average value of multiple reaction paths. Thus, a mandrel degradation model combining fast and slow processes is established at the atomic level. Our work provides a direction for research into the key technology of target fabrication in inertial confinement fusion.

We demonstrated a 202 W Tm:YLF slab laser using a reflecting volume Bragg grating (VBG) as an output coupler at room temperature. Two kinds of active heat dissipation methods were used for the VBG to suppress the shift of wavelength caused by its increasing temperature. The maximum continuous wave (CW) output power of 202 W using the microchannel cooling was obtained under the total incident pump power of 553 W, the corresponding slope efficiency and optical-to-optical conversion efficiency were 39.7% and 36.5%, respectively. The central wavelength was 1908.5 nm with the linewidth (full width at half maximum) of 0.57 nm. Meanwhile, with the laser output increasing from 30 to 202 W, the total shift was about 1.0 nm, and the wavelength was limited to two water absorption lines near 1908 nm. The beam quality factors M2 were measured to be 2.3 and 4.0 in x and y directions at 202 W.

The target backsheath field acceleration mechanism is one of the main mechanisms of laser-driven proton acceleration (LDPA) and strongly depends on the comprehensive performance of the ultrashort ultra-intense lasers used as the driving sources. The successful use of the SG-II Peta-watt (SG-II PW) laser facility for LDPA and its applications in radiographic diagnoses have been manifested by the good performance of the SG-II PW facility. Recently, the SG-II PW laser facility has undergone extensive maintenance and a comprehensive technical upgrade in terms of the seed source, laser contrast and terminal focus. LDPA experiments were performed using the maintained SG-II PW laser beam, and the highest cutoff energy of the proton beam was obviously increased. Accordingly, a double-film target structure was used, and the maximum cutoff energy of the proton beam was up to 70 MeV. These results demonstrate that the comprehensive performance of the SG-II PW laser facility was improved significantly.

Temperature and density asymmetry diagnosis is critical to advance inertial confinement fusion (ICF) science. A multi-monochromatic x-ray imager, MMI, records the spectral signature from an ICF implosion core with time resolution, 2D spatial resolution and spectral resolution. While narrow-band images and 2D space-resolved spectra from the MMI data constrain the temperature and the density spatial structure of the core, the accuracy of the images and the spectra highly depends on the quality of the MMI data and the processing tools. Here, we synthetically investigate the criterion for reliable MMI diagnostics and its effects on the accuracy of the reconstructed images. The pinhole array tilt determines the object spatial sampling efficiency and the minimum reconstruction width, $w$. When the spectral width associated with $w$ is significantly narrower than the spectral linewidth, the line images reconstructed from the MMI data become reliable. The MMI setup has to be optimized for every application to meet this criterion for reliable ICF diagnostics.

Diagnosing the evolution of laser-generated high energy density (HED) systems is fundamental to develop a correct understanding of the behavior of matter under extreme conditions. Talbot–Lau interferometry constitutes a promising tool, since it permits simultaneous single-shot X-ray radiography and phase-contrast imaging of dense plasmas. We present the results of an experiment at OMEGA EP that aims to probe the ablation front of a laser-irradiated foil using a Talbot–Lau X-ray interferometer. A polystyrene (CH) foil was irradiated by a laser of 133 J, 1 ns and probed with 8 keV laser-produced backlighter radiation from Cu foils driven by a short-pulse laser (153 J, 11 ps). The ablation front interferograms were processed in combination with a set of reference images obtained ex situ using phase-stepping. We managed to obtain attenuation and phase-shift images of a laser-irradiated foil for electron densities above ${10}^{22}\;{\mathrm{cm}}^{-3}$. These results showcase the capabilities of Talbot–Lau X-ray diagnostic methods to diagnose HED laser-generated plasmas through high-resolution imaging.

In this paper we consider laser intensities greater than $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}10^{16}\ \mathrm{W\ cm}^{-2}$ where the ablation pressure is negligible in comparison with the radiation pressure. The radiation pressure is caused by the ponderomotive force acting mainly on the electrons that are separated from the ions to create a double layer (DL). This DL is accelerated into the target, like a piston that pushes the matter in such a way that a shock wave is created. Here we discuss two novel ideas. Firstly, the transition domain between the relativistic and non-relativistic laser-induced shock waves. Our solution is based on relativistic hydrodynamics also for the above transition domain. The relativistic shock wave parameters, such as compression, pressure, shock wave and particle flow velocities, sound velocity and rarefaction wave velocity in the compressed target, and temperature are calculated. Secondly, we would like to use this transition domain for shock-wave-induced ultrafast ignition of a pre-compressed target. The laser parameters for these purposes are calculated and the main advantages of this scheme are described. If this scheme is successful a new source of energy in large quantities may become feasible.

We report on a high-repetition-rate, high-power continuously pumped Nd:GdVO4 regenerative amplifier. Numerical simulations successfully pinpoint the optimum working point free of bifurcation instability with simultaneous efficient energy extraction. At a repetition rate of 100 kHz, a maximum output power of 23 W was obtained with a pulse duration of 27 ps, corresponding to a pulse energy of $230~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{J}$. The system displayed an outstanding stability with a root mean square power noise as low as 0.3%. The geometry of the optical resonator and the pumping scheme enhanced output power in the $\text{TEM}_{00}$ mode with a single bulk crystal. Accordingly, nearly diffraction-limited beam quality was produced with $M^{2}\approx 1.2$ at full pump power.

An accelerated micro-foil is used to ignite a pre-compressed cylindrical shell containing deuterium–tritium fuel. The well-known shock wave ignition criterion and a novel criterion based on heat wave ignition are developed in this work. It is shown that for heat ignition very high impact velocities are required. It is suggested that a multi-petawatt laser can accelerate a micro-foil to relativistic velocities in a very short time duration (˜picosecond) of the laser pulse. The cylindrical geometry suggested here for the fast ignition approach has the advantage of geometrically separating the nanosecond lasers that compress the target from the picosecond laser that accelerates the foil. The present model suggests that nuclear fusion by micro-foil impact ignition could be attained with currently existing technology.

Multidimensional instabilities always develop with time during the process of radiation pressure acceleration, and are detrimental to the generation of monoenergetic proton beams. In this paper, a sharp-front laser is proposed to irradiate a triple-layer target (the proton layer is set between two carbon ion layers) and studied in theory and simulations. It is found that the thin proton layer can be accelerated once to hundreds of MeV with monoenergetic spectra only during the hole-boring (HB) stage. The carbon ions move behind the proton layer in the light-sail (LS) stage, which can shield any further interaction between the rear part of the laser and the proton layer. In this way, proton beam instabilities can be reduced to a certain extent during the entire acceleration process. It is hoped such a mechanism can provide a feasible way to improve the beam quality for proton therapy and other applications.

A new target design is presented to model high-energy radiative accretion shocks in polars. In this paper, we present the experimental results obtained on the GEKKO XII laser facility for the POLAR project. The experimental results are compared with 2D FCI2 simulations to characterize the dynamics and the structure of plasma flow before and after the collision. The good agreement between simulations and experimental data confirms the formation of a reverse shock where cooling losses start modifying the post-shock region. With the multi-material structure of the target, a hydrodynamic collimation is exhibited and a radiative structure coupled with the reverse shock is highlighted in both experimental data and simulations. The flexibility of the laser energy produced on GEKKO XII allowed us to produce high-velocity flows and study new and interesting radiation hydrodynamic regimes between those obtained on the LULI2000 and Orion laser facilities.

Maximizing the energy-loading performance of gratings is a universal theme in high-energy pulse compression. However, sporadic grating designs strongly restrict the development of high-power laser engineering. This study proposes an all- and mixed-dielectric grating design paradigm for Nd:glass-based pulse compressors. The solution regions are classified according to the line density. High diffraction efficiency solutions are described in more detail based on the dispersion amount and incident angle. Moreover, an energy scaling factor of 7.09 times larger than that of the National Ignition Facility’s Advanced Radiographic Capability (NIF-ARC) is obtained by taking advantage of the low electric field intensity at transverse magnetic polarization and a small incident angle. These results make a pioneering contribution to facilitate future 20–50-petawatt-class ultrafast laser systems.

Efficient high harmonics generation (HHG) was demonstrated at 10 MHz repetition rate with an external femtosecond enhancement cavity, seeded by a ${\sim}70~\text{fs}$ post-compressed 10 MHz fiber chirped pulse amplifier (FCPA) laser. Operation lasting over 30 min with 0.1 mW outcoupled power at 149 nm was demonstrated. It was found that shorter pulse was beneficial for alleviating the nonlinear plasma effect and improving the efficiency of HHG. Low finesse cavity can relax the plasma nonlinearity clamped intra-cavity power and improve the cavity-locking stability. The pulse duration is expected to be below 100 fs for both 1040 nm and 149 nm outputs, making it ideal for applications such as time-resolved photoemission spectroscopy.

We demonstrate an all-optical method for controlling the transverse motion of an ionization injected electron beam in a laser plasma accelerator by using the transversely asymmetrical plasma wakefield. The laser focus shape can control the distribution of a transversal wakefield. When the laser focus shape is changed from circular to slanted elliptical in the experiment, the electron beam profiles change from an ellipse to three typical shapes. The three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation result agrees well with the experiment, and it shows that the trajectories of these accelerated electrons change from undulating to helical. Such an all-optical method could be useful for convenient control of the transverse motion of an electron beam, which results in synchrotron radiation from orbit angular momentum.

We present detailed characterization of laser-driven fusion and neutron production ($\sim {10}^5$/second) using 8 mJ, 40 fs laser pulses on a thin (<1 μm) D${}_2$O liquid sheet employing a measurement suite. At relativistic intensity ($\sim 5\times {10}^{18}$ W/cm${}^2$) and high repetition rate (1 kHz), the system produces deuterium–deuterium (D-D) fusion, allowing for consistent neutron generation. Evidence of D-D fusion neutron production is verified by a measurement suite with three independent detection systems: an EJ-309 organic scintillator with pulse-shape discrimination, a ${}^3\mathrm{He}$ proportional counter and a set of 36 bubble detectors. Time-of-flight analysis of the scintillator data shows the energy of the produced neutrons to be consistent with 2.45 MeV. Particle-in-cell simulations using the WarpX code support significant neutron production from D-D fusion events in the laser–target interaction region. This high-repetition-rate laser-driven neutron source could provide a low-cost, on-demand test bed for radiation hardening and imaging applications.