Development of high power mid-IR lasers for zeptosecond particle physics

Project Gist

Pioneering a novel particle physics in the time domain

Keywords

mid-IR laser, high harmonic generation, attosecond physics, particle physics

Background and Purpose

It has been considered that the methodology of attosecond physics, which is developing rapidly, cannot be applied to the study of fundamental physics such as particle physics and nuclear physics. In the field of fundamental physics, on the other hand, a new methodology is needed because of the difficulty in building larger accelerators. In the present study, we establish a novel methodology, directly investigating the problems in fundamental physics by measuring the lifetime of nontrivial unstable particles such as positroniums, Yukawa mesons, etc. with attosecond temporal resolution (Fig.1).

Project Achievements

Because of the exceptionally short duration (1 year) of the project, which is also the first year after the inauguration of our Lab., the original plan was limited to the development of the mid-IR optical parametric amplifier. In this period, designing and procuring optical crystals and components for the laser, optimization of the pump laser by a researcher from Vienna Univ. of Tech., and developing mid-IR optical parametric amplifier have been completed as planned (Fig. 2).The related results were published as one treatise and were presented as one invited paper and four contributed presentations at two international conferences. Finally, with the related subject, the principal investigator has been selected for Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science in 2023.

Future Prospects

In addition to the international collaboration between Kyoto Univ. and Vienna Univ. of Tech., which was supported by SPIRITS, we will expand the related international collaborations with other foreign research institutes and universities by using e.g., bilateral programs. With the developed system, we will demonstrate unexplored time resolution with the method of ultrafast imaging [T. Kanai et al., Nature 435, 470 (2005)].

Figure

Principal Investigator