at The Ohio State University
In high intensity laser-plasma interactions, laser energy is transferred to intense radiation sources, including x-rays, γ-rays, electron, positron, proton, and neutron beams. Their application spans a wide range of fields ranging from medicine to inertial confinement fusion (ICF). For example, high brightness x-ray sources generated with these lasers allow scientists to probe high energy density matter like in stars in ways impossible to achieve with currently available conventional sources. Additionally, these x-rays can be generated with very short duration which makes them an ideal probe for transient phenomena in biology and chemistry. Laser generated particle beams have promising applications such as cancer therapy, probing electromagnetic fields in plasmas, antimatter research, and neutron imaging. These applications require detailed knowledge of the underlying fundamental physics from single atom to collective behavior of complex plasmas. Our research group is focused on the basic science from laser physics to intense beams interactions.