The interaction between high-intensity, ultrashort laser pulses and solids has opened up significant technological opportunities in recent years. Laser ablation, for example, allows high-precision materials processing, thereby facilitating the miniaturization of components in medical and telecommunications technologies. The synergy between intense laser pulses and solids can also be used to produce accelerated ion beams, which could serve applications in cancer treatment, fusion energy research and non-destructive analysis of cultural artefacts.
"There are, however, still a number of challenges to overcome before these and other industrial and medical applications can be made available," says Prof. Dr Malte Kaluza of Friedrich Schiller University Jena. ...
