The quest for controlled fusion energy has been ongoing for over a half century. The
demonstration of ignition and energy gain from thermonuclear fuels in the laboratory has …

The direct-drive, laser-based approach to inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is reviewed from
its inception following the demonstration of the first laser to its implementation on the present …

The range of potential applications of compact laser-plasma ion sources motivates the
development of new acceleration schemes to increase achievable ion energies and …

Laser plasma-based particle accelerators attract great interest in fields where conventional
accelerators reach limits based on size, cost or beam parameters. Despite the fact that …

Ion acceleration driven by superintense laser pulses is attracting an impressive and steadily
increasing effort. Motivations can be found in the applicative potential and in the perspective …

The use of ultra-high intensity laser beams to achieve extreme material states in the
laboratory has become almost routine with the development of the petawatt laser. Petawatt …

For many years, laser-driven ion acceleration, mainly proton acceleration, has been
proposed and a number of proof-of-principle experiments have been carried out with lasers …

Laser-driven ion accelerators can deliver high-energy, high-peak current beams and are
thus attracting attention as a compact alternative to conventional accelerators. However …

This book is on inertial confinement fusion, an alternative way to produce electrical power
from hydrogen fuel by using powerful lasers or particle beams. Two huge laser facilities are …

The advent of ultraintense laser pulses generated by the technique of chirped pulse
amplification (CPA) along with the development of high-fluence laser materials has opened …