Using high power lasers as a tool for secondary sources and laboratory astrophysics

Abstract

Over the past few decades, laser technology has developed dramatically, achieving ultrahigh peak laser powers. Currently operating laser facilities (e.g., NIF, OMEGAEP, and BELLA) may deliver up to 1 petawatt peak laser power, while up andcoming ELI-Beamlines and ELI-Nuclear Physics projects will reach 10 petawatt level soon. Such high power pulses are capable of creating ultrahigh electric (up to 1 gigavolt/micron) and magnetic (up to 1 megatesla) fields, which open up an opportunity for a wide range of applications, from fundamental investigations of strong-field QED and astrophysically relevant phenomena in the controlled laboratory environment to development of secondary sources of charged particles and radiation. In the present thesis, I will discuss laser power transmission and seed focusability problems in plasma-based laser amplification, some approaches towards the creation of laser-based fast ion and gamma ray sources, and applications of high power lasers to the studies of magnetic reconnection and electron acceleration by magnetized collisionless shocks.