High Intensity Laser Physics

Physics has long been advanced by probing nature in extreme conditions, be it extremely low temperatures, extremely high particle energies or, as in our case, extremely high fields. Our group seeks to develop the underlying laser technology and apply it to scientific questions ranging from the fundamental behaviour of the quantum vacuum to laser driven particle accelerators and coherent soft X-ray sources.

Our research is conducted at our own cutting edge lasers – JETI and POLARIS – as well as external research facilities. We have an active programme developing advanced targets (cryogenic and thin foil), tailoring gas targets to elucidate the physics of laser driven electron accelerators as well as developing detectors for the specific needs of laser driven particle and photon sources.