The course is offered in a 10-CFU/ECTS version (High intensity lasers for nuclear and physical applications I+II), composed of two 5-CFU/ECTS courses (High intensity lasers for nuclear and physical applications I, High intensity lasers for nuclear and physical applications II) that are offered jointly. The present form defines aims, educational outcomes and syllabus for each part.

 HIGH INTENSITY LASERS FOR NUCLEAR AND PHYSICAL APPLICATIONS I (5 ECTS)

The objective of this course is to provide the students with the physical bases to understand the behavior and the characteristics of laser beams. In particular, it aims at giving rigorous and sound knowledge of electromagnetic waves, light matter interaction, laser physics, properties of laser beam and of laser pulses. This knowledge is intended to give the expertise and the capabilities to deal with basic effects of light propagation and laser-matter interaction and to tackle various phenomena typical of applications of laser beams.

 HIGH INTENSITY LASERS FOR NUCLEAR AND PHYSICAL APPLICATIONS II (5 ECTS)

The goal of this course is to present a few applications of high intensity lasers in nuclear and physical fields, chosen for their importance.  The course aims first to form the students on the physics and technology related to the generation of high intensity laser pulses. Second, and more extensively, it intends to focus on major applications, providing descriptions on physical phenomena involved, laser system used and results achieved. In particular, the following topics will be studied: high order harmonic generation and generation of ultrashort (attosecond-femtosecond range) pulses, laser driven particle acceleration, laser driven inertial confinement fusion. These topics will allow to study other applications in the domain of high intensity laser pulses.

HIGH INTENSITY LASERS FOR NUCLEAR AND PHYSICAL APPLICATIONS I

The student:

- knows the physical and mathematical methods to describe the propagation of electromagnetic waves and their interaction with matter

- knows the physical principles of laser operation and of laser beam behavior

- understands complex phenomena in the field of laser applications

- is able to describe the major effects of laser beam propagation and laser-matter interaction

HIGH INTENSITY LASERS FOR NUCLEAR AND PHYSICAL APPLICATIONS II

The student:

- knows the physics principles and the technology related to the generation and propagations of high intensity laser pulses.

- knows a few important applications of high intensity laser beams in various research fields (generation of XUV pulses by high order harmonic generation, laser driven particle acceleration, laser driven inertial confinement fusion)

- understands the role of laser beam parameters relevant for such applications

- is able to identify the parameters that are relevant in different applications and uses

HIGH INTENSITY LASERS FOR NUCLEAR AND PHYSICAL APPLICATIONS I

- Electromagnetics waves: Maxwell's equations, plane waves, polarization, stationary waves.

- Classical phenomena of light-matter interaction: reflection and refraction, dispersion, interference, diffraction.

- Fundamental of geometrical and wave optics: ray propagation, mirror, lenses, transfer matrix, Helmholtz’s equation, gaussian beam, ABCD law, optical resonator.

- Elementary phenomena of light-matter interaction: semiclassical theory, absorption and emission, laser active material, line broadening and saturation.

- Continuous and transient laser behavior: rate equations, Q-switching, mode locking.

- Lasers for high intensity applications: titanium, neodymium, ytterbium based lasers.

 HIGH INTENSITY LASERS FOR NUCLEAR AND PHYSICAL APPLICATIONS II

- Laser beam transformations: Propagation of ultrashort pulses, amplification, non-linear effects, chirped pulse and optical parametric chirped pulse amplification, pulse shaping.

-Generation of ultrashort (from femtosecond to attosecond) XUV pulses by high-order harmonic generation, simple man model and strong-field approximation, applications in atomic, molecular and solid-state physics, project Extreme Light Infrastructure - attosecond light pulse source (ELI-ALPS).

-Nuclear physics: laser-driven particle acceleration, principles and applications, projects of ELI Nuclear Physics facility (ELI-NP) and ELI-beamlines facility (ELI-beams).

- Energy production: the inertial confinement fusion (ICF), principles, burn efficiency, standard and advanced ignition schemes, achievements, the National Ignition Facility and the Laser Megajoule.

Knowledge of mathematical analysis, classical mechanics and electro-magnetostatics.

Fundamentals of quantum mechanics and atomic physics are welcome.

For High intensity lasers for nuclear and physical applications II, knowledge of the topics of courses equivalent to High intensity lasers for nuclear and physical applications I or to principles of lasers.

For both parts, the evaluation consists in an oral examination, with a discussion and problem-solving tests, on all the topics of the course. For both parts, it will assess the general knowledge, the degree of detail in the analysis and the capability to explain the physical phenomena and the relationship between relevant quantities. The student will be asked to manage the studied effects of laser beam propagation and laser-matter interaction and to face phenomena in laser field, for part I. The ability to explain the role of laser beam parameters relevant for considered applications and to identify the appropriate parameters for any case will be verified for part II.

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