Progress in Ultrafast Intense Laser Science XV (Topics in Applied Physics, 136)

This book covers a diverse cross section of this interdisciplinary research field, with contributions grouped into four categories: laser-induced filamentation; atoms and molecules in a laser field; interaction of solid materials with a coherent light field; and ion acceleration and ionization of atoms in super intense laser fields.

This book series presents up-to-date reviews of advances in this interdisciplinary research field, spanning atomic and molecular physics, as well as molecular and optical science, which have been stimulated by the recent developments in ultrafast laser technologies. Each book compiles peer-reviewed articles by researchers at the forefront of their particular subfields. All the chapters include an overview to allow graduate students and researchers unfamiliar with the subfield to grasp the importance and attractions of the topic covered, followed by reports of cutting-edge discoveries.

Kaoru Yamanouchi has been a Professor of Chemistry at The University of Tokyo since April 1997. His research fields include physical chemistry and AMO physics, with a focus on gas phase laser spectroscopy, chemical reaction dynamics, and intense laser science. In 1996, he launched a new research project to investigate how atoms, molecules, and clusters behave in an intense laser field whose magnitude is as large as that of a Coulomb field within atoms and molecules. By developing new experimental techniques such as mass-resolved momentum imaging, pulsed gas electron diffraction, and coincidence momentum imaging, he has continued his successful exploration of the new research field of ultrafast intense laser science. Among his discoveries, ultrafast structural deformation of molecules and ultrafast hydrogen atom migration within hydrocarbon molecules are particularly noteworthy. He has also demonstrated that the ultrafast structural changes of molecules can in principle be probed in real time with femtosecond temporal resolution using laser-assisted electron diffraction.

Dimitrios Charalambidis has been faculty member of the Physics Department of the University of Crete and affiliated faculty member of the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser of the Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas (IESL-FORTH) since 1992. His research fields include AMO physics, coherent phenomena, multiphoton processes and attosecond science. In the 1990s, he led research investigating coherent interactions in atomic and molecular continua, demonstrating through quantum interference effects that a continuum is not a sink, as traditionally thought. By developing new methods and using advanced instrumentation he has made multiple contributions to quantitative measurements in multiphoton processes. Since 1999, he has been active in attosecond science, particularly the generation and applications of energetic attosecond pulses. Highlights in this area include the first 2nd order autocorrelation of an attosecond pulse train, the first XUV-pump-XUV-probe measurement in the 1 femtosecond temporal regime, the most energetic EUV attosecond source and the first multi-XUV-photon multiple ionization in atoms. He has been involved in the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) project since its preparatory phase and, since 2014, has served as the Chief Scientific Adviser for the ELI Attosecond Light Pulse Source (ELI-ALPS).