Figure 4: Electron
thermal velocity distribution maps with superimposition of the seed
amplitude (solid
line) for (a) positive chirp, (b) negative chirp
The color scale
indicates the ratio of electrons at a given position and velocity. Also
presented, the
calculation of the
plasma wave velocity (dashed-dotted line) and maximum amplitude derived from
equation (2)
(solid line) for (c) positive chirp, (d) negative chirp. (Nature.com)
(August 21, 2015) Researchers
at the University of Strathclyde are developing groundbreaking plasma based
light amplifiers that could replace traditional high power laser amplifiers.
The research group at the Glasgow-based University are
leading efforts to take advantage of plasma, the ubiquitous medium that makes
up most of the universe, to make the significant scientific breakthrough.
The next generation of high power lasers should be able to
crack the vacuum to produce real particles from the sea of virtual particles.
Example of these types of lasers can be found at the Extreme Light
Infrastructure in Bucharest, Prague and Szeged, which are pushing the
boundaries of what can be done with high intensity light.
Professor Dino Jaroszynski and Dr Gregory Vieux from
Strathclyde’s Faculty of Science hope that the developments can produce a very
compact and robust light amplifier.
Professor Jaroszynski said: “The lasers currently being used
are huge and expensive devices, requiring optical elements that can be more
than a metre in diameter. Large laser beams are required because traditional
optical materials are easily damaged by high intensity laser beams.