Development and applications of a plasma waveguide for intense laser pulses

The demonstration of optical guiding of high-intensity laser pulses in a plasma fiber waveguide [C. G. Durfee III and H. M. Milchberg, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 2409 (1993)] has opened the way to new advances in the development of nonlinear optics-based short-wavelength light sources, soft x-ray lasers, and compact laser-driven charged particle accelerators, and offers a new practical realm in which to study, control, and apply nonperturbative laser-matter interactions at ultrahigh intensity. An overview of selected experimental and theoretical results and their applications is presented. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.