The ultrahigh-peak-power laser: Present and future

The technique of chirped pulse amplification has revolutionized our ability to produce high-peak-power pulses. It is possible to produce with tabletop systems pulses in the 10-TW range and peak intensities in the 10(19) to 10(20)-W/cm(2) range. With some refinements and with superior energy storage materials, even higher peak power in the petawatt range should be possible from tabletop systems. In this paper we show the ultimate achievable power and intensity, as well as their applications in science and technology. Their applications cover a wide variety of fields, such as precision surgery, micromachining, coherent and incoherent X-ray generation, thermonuclear ignition, particle acceleration, and nonlinear quantum electrodynamics.