Nature Physics: Attosecond control of plasmas
Edited: 2012/02/21
February 20th, 2012 - Today, light fields of controlled and measured waveform can be used to guide electron motion in atoms and molecules with attosecond precision. An LOA team, in collaboration with teams from LULI and CEA Saclay has demonstrated attosecond control of collective electron motion in plasmas driven by the extreme intensity (≈ 1018 W/cm2) light fields generated at LOA (Nature Physics, to be published). They focused controlled few-cycle laser pulses of the last generation LOA laser at the interface between vacuum and a solid-density plasma, where the intense laser field launches and guides sub-light-cycle motion of plasma electrons electrons with characteristic kinetic energies in the multi-kiloelectronvolt range - two orders of magnitude more than what has been achieved so far in atoms and molecules. Basic spectroscopy of the coherent extreme ultraviolet radiation emerging from the laser-plasma interaction allowed the researchers to probe this collective motion of charge with sub-100-attosecond resolution. This is an important step towards attosecond control of electronic processes in laser-driven plasma experiments.
13th International Conference on X-Ray Lasers 2012
Edited: 2012/02/17
The thirteenth International Conference on X-ray lasers (ICXRL2012) will be held from 11 to 15 June 2012 in Paris at the site of the Cordeliers.
This cycle of conference brings together around 100 to 120 scientists and engineers working in the field of coherent X-ray sources, associated technologies (including those of high power lasers and targets) and applications. It provides research teams engaged in theoretical, numerical or experimental studies, a unique opportunity to meet, to discuss on their results and share their expertize.
Registration for the conference is now open: ICXRL 2012.
LABEX PALM: first call of 2012
Edited: 2012/02/17
The first 2012 call to support project within the Laboratory of Excellence PALM is open until March 8, 2012. PALM is a Laboratory of Excellence of the scientific community Campus Paris-Saclay, created and supported by the Scientific Cooperation Foundation Campus Paris-Saclay. It gathers over 700 permanent physicists (researchers, lecturers, engineers, ..) working on a wide range of topics in basic and applied physics. The March 2012 call concerns several topics:
-Theme 2: Slow dynamics of non-equilibrium systems. Budget : 335 k€
Theme 3: Ultrafast dynamics: from radiation sources to multi-scale responses. 370 k€ budget.
Theme emergence. 170 k € budget
Theme valuation. 110 k € budget
Theme training. 170 k € budget
Detailed information can be found here.
LOA General Assembly meeting
Edited: 2012/01/18
The LOA general assembly meeting was held Thursday, February 9, 2012 at ENSTA-ParisTech Palaiseau campus. This event is an opportunity to revisit the highlights of the year 2011, to review the laboratory projects and their position into the local, national and international levels.
Workshop: Science with Petawatt Class Laser
Edited: 2012/01/10
A workshop on the physics at high intensity with petawatt class laser systems was held on 23rd-24th of January 2012 in Amphitheater Stourdzé, Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, in Paris. Scientists involved in these new PW-class projects gathered to share their unique technical and scientific expertises, essential for the achievement of all these ambitious research programs.
The physics at high intensity is becoming a very active field of research, benefiting from the emergence of PW-class laser projects all over the world, as well as remarquable progresses in numerical modeling and theoretical developments.
On the Plateau de Saclay, the EquipeX CILEX will offer a unique experimental ensemble around the APOLLON10P laser for the French community to explore the physics at ultra-high intensity.
Link to the web site of the meeting
Workshop "Fs Laser Damages" December 7th, 2011
Edited: 2011/11/14
On December 7th 2011, was held at LOA a workshop on the fundamental aspects of the damages generated by femtosecond laser pulses and on the optical coatings that may increase damage thresholds. The performance of femtosecond laser sources are indeed increasing both in high energy and in terms of short duration. The components used in these sources require both a wide spectral band, a small group velocity dispersion, high flux resistance and sometimes large transverse dimensions. The industrial applications and the constraints linked to such developments were also discussed.
2 new research engineers hired at LOA
Edited: 2011/11/08
Two new research engineers, Fabien Tissandier and Jean-Philippe Goddet, have been hired at LOA. Fabien Tissandier will join the FLEX group whose objective is the production of ultrafast X-ray sources and their applications. he will provide experimental support in the field of x-ray instrumentation and assists researchers during their experiments. Jean-Philippe Goddet will join the laser team. He will mainly be responsible for operating the "Salle Jaune" laser system and develop laser diagnostics. Their positions will start December 2011.
Another PhD award for a LOA student
Edited: 2011/11/02
The thesis prize of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) was awarded to Eduardo Oliva, now postdoctoral researcher at LOA. This prize is awarded to the best theses in every school of the university. It is taken into account, among other merits, the originality of the results, the international projection and the possibility of technological applications. This work was supervised by Philippe Zeitoun from LOA (FLEX research group) and Pedro Velarde (Instituto Fusion Nuclear).
The thesis aimed to explore innovative ways to achieve XUV lasers pumped by laser beam with parameters at least comparable to the best XUV free electron lasers (20 fs, 20-40 μJ / pulse , spatially coherent). Results based on intensive use of the latest generation of UPM's hydrodynamic code has allowed to identify, with high accuracy and confidence, the way to produce XUV pulse of 100 fs and 20-30 μJ, and on the longer term, of 200 fs and 5mJ. Such x-ray beam parameters could allow ultra-short and ultra-intense XUV sources, especially for the production of 3-dimensional images of living/inert nano-objects.
ERC 2011 award at LOA
Edited: 2011/10/08
A second ERC award (European Research Council) has been obtained late September 2011 at LOA. The project presented by F. Sylla and V. Malka from the SPL group, and Antonin Borot from the PCO group was selected in the frame of the ERC call "Proof of Concept". The objective is to provide all necessary developments to make commercially available an innovative gamma ray source produced by the interaction, with a solid target, of a laser-based energetic electron beam.
Gerondeau award to LOA
Edited: 2011/09/27
The Gerondeau prize has been awarded by Ecole Polytechnique and Zodiac Aerospace to two LOA Ph.D students Monday, September 26, 2011: François Sylla and Antonin Borot. This award aims to promote the advancement of projects that can lead to business creation. The students set up the project called SOURCELAB to develop target technologies for laser-matter interaction experiments related to the production of radiation and particle sources by laser.
