The department participates significantly in an administration, scientific development, and technical maintenance of the Prague Asterix Laser System (PALS), a modern European experimental research site, which operates a unique source of electromagnetic laser field, namely high-energy pulses of an iodine photodissociation laser. The laser induces plasma of a sample at a target in an evacuated interaction chamber (pressure <10–5 Pa).
The iodine laser parameters in a target area are a wavelength of 1315 nm, and its harmonics (657 nm, 437 nm a 328 nm), kilojoule pulse energy, a pulsewidth of 350 ps, peak power of 1TW, and peak intensity on the target 10 PW/cm2. A heart of the laser PALS consists of the former iodine laser system Asterix IV from Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (Garching, Germany), which was moved in Prague in the year of 2000.
The PALS, a joint laboratory of Institute of Physics of AS CR, v.v.i., and Institute of Plasma Physics of AS CR, v.v.i., belongs, as a member of LASERLAB EUROPE II consortium, to a network of the biggest European lasers. The experimental capacities of the lasers are available to experiments of various scientific teams from EU.
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Research program of the department in the physical fields of laser plasma, high-power lasers, and their diagnostics prospers from an experimental background of the PALS and also involves university students. The scientific results are also directed toward their commercial application.
A research of the laser interactions in plasma media is focused at efficient laser generation of sources of highly-charged ion beams. A research of the laser beam interactions in another optical media is connected with a development of key elements of the iodine laser, the oscillator and the amplifiers, or special devices measuring properties of the laser plasma or laser fields.
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