Femtosecond Super-intense Laser for Realizing Extreme Physical Conditions

The high-power femtosecond laser has become an important scientific tool for the study on not only relativistic laser-matter interactions but also practical applications. A 30-fs PW CPA Ti:sapphire laser has been constructed at the Advanced Photonics Research Institute and has been used to accelerate charged particles and to generate ultrashort high-energy photon sources. The Center for Relativistic Laser Science (CoReLS) using a 30-fs PW Ti:sapphire laser has recently been launched for research on fundamental physics in the relativistic and the ultrarelativistic laser intensity regimes. In this article, we introduce worldwide research activities on the development of a high-power femtosecond laser and its applications. The upgrade of the laser to 4 PW and higher power through research at the CoReLS is briefly described as well. The femtosecond high-power laser will allow us to enrich our understandings of fundamental physics and to open new horizons on ultrasmall and ultrafast spacetime scales.