Review of laser-plasma physics research and applications in Korea

Abstract

Laser plasmas can be produced when high-power laser beams are focused in matter. A focused laser beam of TW(terawatt)-level high power has an extremely strong electric field, so neutral atoms are immediately ionized by the laser electric field, leading to a laser-produced plasma. The laser plasma can be produced by small table-top TW lasers based on the CPA (chirped-pulse amplification) technique, and now they are rather easily available even in university laboratories. In Korea, there are several CPA-based TW (or even petawatt) lasers in a few institutions, and they have been used for diverse laser plasma physics research and applications, including the laser acceleration for electrons and ions, high-power THz (tera-hertz) generation, advanced light sources, high-energy-density plasmas, plasma optics, etc. This paper reviews some of the laser plasma physics research and applications that have been performed in several universities and research institutes.