DIOCLES LASER

An ultra-high-intensity laser system, DIOCLES,* is being built at UNL for for the purpose of studying the interactions of light with matter at the highest attainable field strengths. When completed in 2006, it will have the highest combination of peak power and repetition rate of any laser in the U.S., 100 TW at 10 Hz. When focused, it will be capable of directly increasing an electron's mass relativistically by 20X.
amplifying medium Ti:sapphire
wavelength
0.8 micron
pulse duration
30 fs
energy per pulse
3 J
peak power 100 TW
repetition rate 10 Hz
peak power * repetition rate 1 PW-Hz
peak intensity 10^22 W/cm^2
peak normalized vector potential a_0 20
peak electron quiver mass 20 x rest mass
Schematic diagram of the laser system

Lab entrance
  Lab blueprint

* In 200 BC, Diocles invented the parabolic reflector, which---to this day---remains the best focusing element by which the intensity of light can be increased.

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