Head of the group PHI : Sandrine DOBOSZ

With the possibility of producing pedestal-free, few optical cycle laser pulses of extreme intensity laser intensities (> 1021 W/cm2 ) , the field of optics, has abruptly moved - in less than 15 years - from a few eV's to the present MeV-GeV. It is foreseeable that, in the near future, the TeV regime will be reached.

The understanding of the ultra-relativistic character of the interaction between light and matter is a considerable scientific challenge and led to novel spectacularly applications.

The PHI group is thrown is this ultra-fast growing field through two complementary aspects: constructing some basis for this new physics (in using laser-produced radiation to diagnose the interaction) and promoting the applications (in using laser-produced radiation as external sources).

The unique properties of laser-generated beams include their variety (electrons, ions, photons, neutron,...), their short duration -as short as a few femtoseconds- and their high peak brightness, which could lend themselves to applications as compact light and particle sources in many fields, including medicine (therapy, imaging, diagnostics, drug development etc), chemistry (radiolysis, surface studies, chemical reactions, catalysis, molecular structure), physics (plasma physics diagnostics, detectors etc) and material science (radiography, electron and photon diffraction), security (material inspection, border control, etc).

In close collaboration with many teams from

the "Plateau de Saclay" (LULI, LOA, LPGP, CpTh), from Bordeaux (CELIA, CESTA) and new sources under development (APOLLON, LUIRE, ELI, GEMINI,...), this dual enriching strategy will be pursued and amplified.