Atoms, Solids, and Plasmas in Super-Intense Laser Fields, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2001

The recent developement of high power lasers, delivering femtosecond pulses of 20 2 intensities up to 10 W/cm , has led to the discovery of new phenomena in laser interactions with matter. At these enormous laser intensities, atoms, and molecules are exposed to extreme conditions and new phenomena occur, such as the very rapid multi photon ionization of atomic systems, the emission by these systems of very high order harmonics of the exciting laser light, the Coulomb explosion of molecules, and the acceleration of electrons close to the velocity of light. These phenomena generate new behaviour of bulk matter in intense laser fields, with great potential for wide ranging applications which include the study of ultra-fast processes, the development of high-frequency lasers, and the investigation of the properties of plasmas and condensed matter under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure. In particular, the concept of the "fast ignitor" approach to inertial confinement fusion (ICF) has been proposed, which is based on the separation of the compression and the ignition phases in laser-driven ICF. The aim of this course on "Atom, Solids and Plasmas in Super-Intense Laser fields" was to bring together senior researchers and students in atomic and molecular physics, laser physics, condensed matter and plasma physics, in order to review recent developments in high-intensity laser-matter interactions. The course was held at the Ettore Majorana International Centre for Scientific Culture in Erice from July 8 to July 14,2000.

Part 1: Lectures. 1. Ultra-intense lasers and their applications; G. Mourou. Atomic and Molecular Physics. 2. Theory of multiphonton ionization of atoms; N.J. Kylstra, et al. 3. Experiments of multiphoton dissociation and ionization of molecules; H. Rottke. 4. Two-color and sigle-color above threshold ionization; P. Agostini. 5. High-order harmonic generation; P. Saliéres. 6. Cluster in intense laser fields; J.W.G. Tisch. 7. Introduction to laser-plasma interaction and its applications; S. Atzeni. 8. Experimental study of Petawatt laser produced plasmas; M. Key. 9. Relativistic laser plasma interactions; J. Meyer-ter-Vehn, et al. 10. Dense ultrafast plasmas; J.C. Gauthier. 11. Magnetic fields and solitons in relativistic plasmas; F. Pegoraro, et al. Part 2: Seminars. Atomic and Molecular Physics. 12. R-Matrix-floquet theory of two electron atoms in intense laser fields; M. Dörr. 13. Intense-field many-body-matrix theory: applications to recoil momentum distribution for laser-induced double ionization;F.H.M. Faisal. 14. electrons and ions in relativistic laser fields; Y.I. Salamin. 15. the classical and the quantum face of above-threshold ionization; G.G. Paulus, H. Walther. 16. Relativistic effects in non-linear atom-laser interactions at ultrahigh intensities; V. Véniard. Plasmas 17. Plasmas at solid state density generated by ultra-short laser pulses; K. Eidmann. 18.Shock wave experiments and equation of state of dense matter;M. Koenig.19.Laser particle acceleration in plasmas;J.R. Marquès. Part 3: Posters. 20. Elliptic dichroism in angular distributions in free-free transitions in hydrogen; A. Cionga, et al. 21. Shock electromagnetic waves resulting from higher harmonics generation in transparent solids; V.E. Gruzdev, A Guzdeva. 22. study of fast electron propagation in ultra-intense laser pulse interaction with solid targets using rear side optical self-radiation and reflectivity-based diagnostics; J.J. Santos, et al. 23. Demonstration of hybridly pumped soft X-ray laser; F. Bortolotto. 24.X-ray emission from laser irradiated structured gold targets; T. Desai. 25.Measurement of spectral and angular distribution of hard X-rays from laser produced plasmas and their application; S. Düsterer, et al. 26. Equation of state of water in the megabar range; E. Henry. 27. XUV interferometry using high order harmonics: application to plasma diagnostics; J.F. Hergott. Index.