When Multipetawatt Lasers Strike! The Physics and Applications of Laser Beams Hitting Solids

When we talk about extremely powerful lasers, it's easy to conjure up images of spies strapped to tables, Sci-Fi guns and planet destroyers, but facts are often stranger than fiction. Modern lasers on the intensity frontier are capable of focussing huge amounts of light energy into tiny, micron-scale focal spots over less than a trillionth of a second in duration - creating an incredibly high energy density. When such a pulse strikes something solid, we end up with a bright flash of X-rays, ion beams and even antimatter can be generated in the extreme fields - but how? And what applications can such exotic particles provide?