Milo Eder '20, a current graduate student at The Ohio State University, will visit campus to discuss high-intensity laser-matter interactions and how they are being used to create plasmas.
"Light is usually something we think of as a gentle illumination we interact with every day. In the scientific world, we might instead think about how light carries information. But when laser pulses are compressed to extremely short durations and focused to microscopic spots, light can reach intensities so large that it fundamentally changes how matter behaves. In this nonlinear regime, the electric field of the light can become larger than the forces that bind electrons to atoms, rapidly ionizing them and turning solid or liquid targets into plasma.
"In this talk, I will introduce the basic ideas behind high-intensity laser–matter interactions, starting from how pulsed lasers are used to create plasmas in extreme conditions. A central challenge in these experiments is that each laser pulse can destroy the target it interacts with, requiring new approaches to create stable, repeatable conditions. One solution my PhD work utilizes is the use of a freely flowing liquid sheet targets, which provide a fresh target for every laser shot.
"I will then describe a recent experiment carried out at the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI-ALPS), where ultrashort, ultra-high-intensity laser pulses were used to drive plasma formation and explore how plasma evolves in time. By tracking the dynamics of these rapidly expanding systems, we can begin to understand how these extreme dynamics affect plasma formation.
"These studies connect fundamental questions about how light interacts with matter to the development of compact sources of radiation and diagnostics, and they highlight how pushing lasers to ever higher intensities open new windows into plasma physics."
Join us on Friday, Apr. 24, for this exciting presentation from Eder, a graduate student at The Ohio State University and a Kenyon alum. Lunch will be available in Hayes Hall 216 from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., and the presentation will begin in Hayes 211/213 at 12:10 p.m. We hope to see you there!