Prof. Louis DiMauro | Extreme Laser-Matter Interaction Across the Electromagnetic Spectrum

In this video, Prof. Louis DiMauro of The Ohio State University describes his experimental investigations of high field science – the interaction of intense lasers with matter.

Light is really just an oscillating electric field that propagates through space. The light that comes from your computer screen produces very small electric fields. These electric fields are just strong enough to stimulate the cells in the retina in your eye, but not strong enough to do any damage. Lasers are beams of light that have very strong electric fields. Under certain conditions, the electric fields in pulsed laser beams can be so strong that they are capable of pulling apart atoms and molecules. This is what is known as “strong field science”. These interactions of strong electric fields with matter can create plasmas and states of matter not otherwise possible. They can also be used as a probe to determine how molecules are held together.