Group of Lasers and Plasmas

ACCELERATES featured in National TV show aired
during 2013 and 2014

The project ACCELERATES has been highlighted in the tv show 100 segundos de
ciência/100 seconds of science in a short documentary (100 seconds of duration)
describing the project and aired several times in prime time in 2013 and 2014.
Generation of miniature magnetised shockwaves

By interacting with minimagnetospheres, super-alfvénic plasma streams
can generate collisionless shocks with very distinct features, like solitary
(tsunami-like) magnetosonic waves.  In the figure, we represent the magnetic field
of a train of solitary waves (in blue tones) resulting from the interaction with a
minimagnetosphere, whose typical size is of a few ion Larmor radii. In orange/red
tones, we represent the electron fluid velocity component perpendicular to the
magnetic field, that illustrates the development of electron-scale instabilities
at the magnetopause.
Brillouin amplification: towards
next generation laser energy densities

This animation illustrates efficient energy transfer from a long and
energetic pump to a short probe laser pulse via stimulated
Brillouin backscattering. It is shown that the probe pulse can be
amplified to to high intensities (15x pump intensity) while
preserving a smooth envelope. Pushing the interaction
further leads to probe filamentation, which destroys the
probe envelope and limits the amplification process.
Cascading in laser pulses

The figure represents the development of an
electron-positron pair plasma at the focus of two
counter circularly polarized intense laser pulses.
The electrons, positrons and photons are respectively
colored in red, green and yellow. The laser pulses
are displayed in a rainbow color scale according
to the wave intensity. The arrows represent the field
lines of the electric field.
High-resolution x-ray 3D imaging of bone micro-structure

Osteoporosis impact on public health is sharply increasing justifying a significant effort to diagnose,
reat and understand this disease. Bones have been imaged with x-rays for almost a century and the
basic technology for clinical image is well established, but with the recent development of large scale
synchrotron light sources and high-end microfiches x-ray generators, imaging of the intricate bone inner
structure with a few micron resolution become possible. Laser driven betatron x-ray microscope was
built and used to demonstrate the feasibility of high-resolution bone imaging in the Astra-Gemini laser
facility (UK). A sample of femur trabecular bone was imaged from multiple angles and a 3D model of the
bone was built using tomographic techniques to a resolution below 50 micron. This demonstration renew
the interest in the development of compact laser-plasma electron accelerators and its applications. It also
opens prospects for its use in clinic diagnostics in the medium term.

Welcome to the website of the Group of Lasers and Plasmas of the Instituto de Plasmas e Fusão Nuclear at Instituto Superior Técnico.

Latest News

Luis OS elected as fellow of the European Academy of Sciences

Luís OS was recently elected fellow of the European Academy of Sciences (EurASc). IST has two professors that are fellows of the EurASC, Luis OS and Armando Pombeiro. Luis is the first Portuguese to be part of the Physics division and the sixth Portuguese to join the prestigious academy. Read more

EPP member Thomas G to co-organize next Les Houches school

The next edition of the Les Houches plasma physics school will be co-organized by EPP researcher Thomas G and Mickael Grech (LULI, France). This school, held every two years at Les Houches, in the beautiful Chamonix Valley in the french Alps, gathers a group of renowned lecturers in plasma physics. Space, astrophysical as well… Read more

Latest Publications

On the use of the envelope model for down-ramp injection in laser-plasma accelerators, Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 62 (2019) p. 024001
Thales Silva, Anton Helm, Jorge Vieira, Ricardo A Fonseca, Luis O Silva
Wakefields in a cluster plasma, Physical Review Accelerators and Beams 22 (2019) p. 113501
MW Mayr, L Ceurvorst, MF Kasim, JD Sadler, B Spiers, K Glize, AF Savin, N Bourgeois, F Keeble, AJ Ross, DR Symes, R Aboushelbaya, RA Fonseca, J Holloway, N Ratan, RMGM Trines, RHW Wang, R Bingham, LO Silva, PN Burrows, M Wing, PP Rajeev, PA Norreys
Proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration in AWAKE, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 377 (2019) p. 20180418
E Gschwendtner et al.
Prospect of Studying Nonperturbative QED with Beam-Beam Collisions, Physical Review Letters 122 (2019) p. 190404
V Yakimenko, S Meuren, F Del Gaudio, C Baumann, A Fedotov, F Fiuza, T Grismayer, MJ Hogan, A Pukhov, LO Silva, G White

ACCELERATES featured in National TV show aired during 2013 and 2014

Generation of miniature magnetised shockwaves

Brillouin amplification: towardsnext generation laser energy densities

Cascading in laser pulses

High-resolution x-ray 3D imaging of bone micro-structure

Latest News

Luis OS elected as fellow of the European Academy of Sciences

EPP member Thomas G to co-organize next Les Houches school

Latest Publications

ACCELERATES featured in National TV show aired
during 2013 and 2014

Brillouin amplification: towards
next generation laser energy densities