Abstract
Victor V. Apollonov, Sergei M. Silnov
The creation of high-power lasers has opened a new era in the development of basic research and cuttingedge technologies in various fields of practical application. All this is, first of all, due to the unique properties of laser sources of high-power coherent radiation. They include: a) high monochromaticity (i.e. a small width of the emission line), which offers new opportunities in high-resolution spectroscopy; b) high spatial and temporal coherence (i.e. the occurrence of light oscillations in a coordinated manner, resulting thereby in a distinct interference pattern), which gives a strong impetus to the development of holography and optical information processing methods; c) a relatively high specific energy that can be emitted by the laser, d) a possibility of varying the length of time during which the energy stored in the laser can be emitted in a wide range of durations: from continuous to femtoseconds; e) a possibility of variations in the temporal structure of radiation from tens of Hz up to tens of GHz; and f) a small divergence, which enables tight focusing. Due to these properties, the laser power density, which can affect the substance, reaches a giant value on the order of 1020 W/cm–2 . Consequently, it is possible to expose a substance to radiation whose power density exceeds all known today values characterizing natural and artificial sources. This fantastic opportunity has been thoroughly investigated in the recent decades by scientists from different countries. Clearly, by gradually increasing the laser energy and reducing the length of time during which that energy is emitted, it is possible to observe several stages of an interaction like this.
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