Tel Aviv Intense Laser and Ultrafast Science group

Our research focus

We investigate how intense light can accelerate particles to high energies. We use these particles to study frontier areas of science at the meeting point between Material Science, Plasma Physics and Nuclear Physics. We conduct our experimental activities both on the local laboratory and on intense laser facilities abroad.

Our reserach projects:

Tabletop particle accelerators and their applications


A dramatic outcome of laser-plasma interaction in the relativistic regime is the emission of intense radiation from the plasma. We investigate different experimental scenarios...

Radiation damage on the picosecond timescale


With its obvious importance to the performance and lifetime of machines that operate in radiation rich environments, material damage induced by radiation has been a major research focus for decades...

Laser induced fission in mass-limited targets


We study how laser irradiation of mass-limited fissile targets produce nuclear fission fragments and how these fragments can be utilized to study the origins of heavy element in the universe.

High harmonic generation from relativistic plasma mirrors


We study how intense XUV pulse trains can be generated from high intensity laser irradiated polished substrates, also called "plasma mirrors". At "relativistic" laser intensities (i.e., larger than about 10^18 W/cm^2), highly relativistically oscillating plasma is formed on the substrate and the radiation is attributed to High-Harmonic-Generation from laser pulse reflection off these oscillations.

Radiation Reaction


It is well-known that accelerating charges emit electromagnetic radiation, and that the emitted radiation carries aways energy. This gives rise to the phenomenon of radiation-reaction: if an accelerating charge loses energy by the emitted radiation, its dynamics must change...