Advancing High-Intensity Laser Science with Flying Focus pulses

Due to the exponential progress in laser technology, ultra-intense lasers are quickly becoming an essential tool capable of probing fundamental quantum physics phenomena. These include e.g. radiation of accelerated charged particles, particle-antiparticle pair production, and polarization of vacuum. After a brief overview of these effects we will discuss “Flying Focus” (FF) laser pulses which enable co-propagation of particles (ultra-relativistic electrons or hard photons) with the laser focus, so that they stay in the region of peak field intensity for prolonged interaction times. We will introduce FF generation methods and analytical description of FF pulses with arbitrary focal velocities and discuss experimental configurations in which the long laser-particle interaction time aids high-intensity applications. Since signatures of strong field effects in laser-particle interactions accumulate with interaction time the FF enables experimental access at orders of magnitude lower laser powers and intensities than in conventional fixed-focus setups, while achieving a comparable response.