Relativistic high-power laser-matter interactions

Recent advances in laser technology have pushed the frontier of maximum intensity achieved to about 10(22) W/cm(2) and investigators currently believe even higher intensities may be reached in the near future. This, combined with other breakthroughs on the fronts of short pulse generation and high repetition rates, have stimulated considerable progress, theoretical as well as experimental, in the field of laser-matter interactions. It is now possible to laser-accelerate electrons to a few hundred MeV and laser-induced pair-production and nuclear physics experiments have made significant progress. This article is devoted to a review of the recent advances in the field and stresses quantum phenomena that require laser field intensities in excess of the relativistic threshold of similar to 10(18) W/cm(2). Interactions with free electrons, with highly-charged ions and with atoms and clusters, are reviewed. Electron laser acceleration, atomic quantum dynamics, high harmonic generation, quantum electrodynamical effects and nuclear interactions in plasmas and ions, are among the important topics covered in the article. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.