Plasma photonics for laser pulse control at ultrahigh intensities

高功率激光脉冲的时空和偏振特性的控制是紧凑的基于激光等离子体的粒子加速器和辐射源的发展的核心，其具有广泛的潜在应用。等离子体可以承受极高的能量密度，其光学特性可以在高功率激光脉冲的超快时间尺度上变化，从而实现对强光的动态操纵。该项目将研究通过使用经历所谓相对论诱导透明过程的等离子体来控制强激光脉冲的途径。最近的研究表明，激光与稠密等离子体的相互作用，在这个制度可以导致的范围内的变化，包括偏振旋转和空间模式转换的驱动激光脉冲。这项研究将利用利用国家和国际高功率激光设施进行的实验以及利用高性能计算集群进行的数值研究。

Control of the spatial-temporal and polarisation properties of high power laser pulses are central to the development of compact laser-plasma-based particle accelerators and radiation sources, which have wide-ranging potential applications. Plasma can withstand extremely high energy densities and its optical properties can be varied on the ultra fast timescale of a high power laser pulse, enabling dynamic manipulation of intense light. This project will investigate routes to controlling intense laser pulses through the use of plasma undergoing the process of so-called relativistic induced transparency. Recent studies have shown that the laser interaction with the dense plasma in this regime can result in range of changes to the drive laser pulse including polarisation rotation and spatial mode conversion. This study will make use of experiments conducted using national and international high power laser facilities and numerical studies conducted using high performance computing clusters.