Project description
Shedding new light on unexplored regimes of strong-field physics
Understanding and manipulating the interactions between light and matter – between electromagnetic fields or photons and molecules, atoms, or even subatomic particles – opens new horizons with important societal applications. Since the description of the first laser was published in 1960, the ultrafast processes induced or revealed by the interaction of high-intensity lasers with solid or gaseous matter have become the focus of strong-field physics, shaping research and development in areas from photovoltaics and photonics to quantum information processing and astrophysics. The EU-funded XSOL project is developing a pioneering laser-driven pulse to explore a regime of light–matter interaction nearly inaccessible until now for application in tabletop devices.
Objective
Many important breakthroughs in science have occurred when investigating the laws of nature at extremes. Strong-field effects, such as relativistic plasma dynamics, high-harmonic generation and laser-driven particle acceleration, appear at extreme intensities of electromagnetic fields. By using very short laser pulses and focusing them very tightly, these effects and their applications come within reach of table-top systems. I will explore extreme strong-field physics at the fundamental limits of spatio-temporal confinement and open the door to a completely new regime of strong-field interactions in the vacuum ultraviolet. I will achieve this by scaling soliton-driven light sources in hollow capillary fibres by two orders of magnitude in power compared to the state of the art.
I will create optical attosecond pulses (sub-cycle electric field transients in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum) with multi-terawatt peak power and excellent pulse contrast, with homogeneous linear polarisation, circular polarisation, or as radial vector beams. The latter can be focused to sub-wavelength spot sizes and create a relativistic electric field in the longitudinal direction. In combination with the sub-cycle duration, this will be a completely unique driving pulse for plasma physics and particle acceleration. I will use these pulses for the generation of high-energy isolated extreme ultraviolet and X-ray attosecond pulses from plasma mirrors and for the creation of isolated multi-MeV attosecond electron bunches using in-vacuum strong-field electron acceleration, both in a compact table-top system.
I will generate few-femtosecond pulses tuneable across the vacuum ultraviolet (100 nm to 200 nm) with 300 GW peak power, opening the door to a regime of ultraviolet-driven strong-field and relativistic nonlinear effects in both gases and plasmas that has been almost entirely inaccessible, and hence unexplored.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2020-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
EH14 4AS Edinburgh
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.