Morris, Stuart2024-05-042024-05-042020-12-07Morris, Stuart (2020). When Multipetawatt Lasers Strike! The Physics and Applications of Laser Beams Hitting Solids. Cranfield Online Research Data (CORD). Presentation. https://doi.org/10.17862/cranfield.rd.13341905.v1https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/21421When 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?CC BY 4.0'DSDS20 3MT''DSDS20''Laser''Solid''X-Ray''Lasers and Quantum Electronics'Presentation10.17862/cranfield.rd.13341905.v1