Fig. 1. Ultra-intense and ultra-short laser facilities in Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). (a) Ultra-intense and ultra-short laser comprehensive experimental facility; (b) SIOM petawatt laser facility; (c) Shanghai superintense and ultra-short laser facility (SULF): compressor chamber and target chamber of 1 PW laser system; (d) SULF 10 PW laser system

Fig. 2. Generation of 5.2 keV high-order harmonic X-ray source. (a) Schematic diagram of high-order harmonics generated by interaction between near-infrared laser and Kr atoms and their multivalent ions, showing that the highest valence state of Kr contributing to high-order harmonic spectrum is Kr⁸⁺; (b) high-order harmonic spectra generated by interaction between Kr gas and laser; (c) enlargement of 2‒7 keV region in (b)^[7]

Fig. 3. Schematic of experimental setups and beam pointing results with and without high voltage. (a) Experimental setup of generation and characterization of forward white light; (b) experimental setup of filament jitter measurement; (c),(d) maps of 1 kHz filament’s position (magnified by 25 times for comparison); (e),(f) maps of forward white light spots. (c),(e) 0 kV; (d),(f) 50 kV. Position of optical axis of pump pulses propagating in free space without filamentation and without high voltage is defined as (0,0)^[95]

Fig. 4. Air lasing induced by ultrafast intense laser fields and its applications in gas detection. (a) Multiwavelength air lasing produced by mid-infrared femtosecond lasers and corresponding energy-level diagram^[135,145]; (b) principle of air-lasing-based coherent Raman spectroscopy: during femtosecond laser propagation, optical gain of air molecules as well as coherent vibration of various greenhouse gases is excited, and air lasing is continuously amplified and induces coherent Raman scattering with molecular fingerprint information when it encounters vibrating molecules^[154]; (c),(d) experimental demonstration of multicomponent simultaneous detection (c) and isotope discrimination (d) with coherent Raman spectroscopy^[154] (adapted with permission from Ref. [135] (©2011 American Physical Society), Ref. [145] (©2018 Springer Nature), and Ref. [154] (©2022 AAAS))

Fig. 5. LWFA developed at SIOM has achieved remarkable results. (a) Electron beam with peak energy of 800 MeV and 25% energy spread, generated from all-optical cascaded LWFA utilizing ionization-induced injection^[164]; (b) electron beams with peak energy of 1.3 GeV and 3%‒20% energy spread, obtained from cascaded LWFA employing density-gradient injection^[165]; (c) highest-brightness electron beams, featuring peak energy of 580 MeV and 1% energy spread, realized from cascaded LWFA using two gas jets with density bump^[167]; (d) electron beams with peak energies of 824 MeV and energy spread of 2‰, produced from single-stage LWFA via density-tailored plasma^[169]

Fig. 6. Various compact radiation sources based on LWFA at SIOM. (a) Ultrahigh brilliance quasi-monochromatic MeV γ-rays based on self-synchronized all-optical Compton scattering source^[174]; (b) enhanced betatron source at hard X-ray regime by steering laser-driven plasma wakefield with tilted shock front^[178]; (c) table-top free electron lasing at EUV regime based on laser wakefield accelerator^[179]

Fig. 7. Theoretical progress in laser-driven ion acceleration. (a) Radiation pressure acceleration scheme^[187]; (b) circularly polarized laser-driven stable-phase acceleration scheme^[189]; (c) bubble acceleration scheme^[191]

Fig. 8. Experimental progress in laser-driven ion acceleration. (a) Acceleration of quasimonoenergetic high-flux proton beams using novel shock scheme driven by femtosecond lasers^[199]; (b) acceleration of 62.5 MeV proton beams driven by “Xihe” laser facility^[201]; (c) high efficiency laser-driven proton acceleration with 8.7% conversion efficiency using 3D printed micro-wire array targets^[202]

Fig. 9. Schematic of generation and dynamics of attosecond electron pulses in laser field^[209]

Fig. 10. Radiation-reaction trapping effect driven by ultra-intense lasers^[222]

Fig. 11. Progress of SIOM in interaction between vortex laser and matter. (a) Generation of relativistic vortex laser beams using ultra-intense lasers interacting with light-fan structure targets^[257]; (b) vortex lasers driven vortex harmonics^[218]; (c) deflection of intense vortex laser beam from classical optical reflection law^[261]

Fig. 12. Relativistic LG laser generation and application^[263]

Fig. 13. Antimatter particle, positron, generated using ultra-intense lasers^[267]

Fig. 14. Schematic of laser-driven wire-guided undulator for terahertz emission^[273]

Fig. 15. Schematic illustrating SPP generation and amplification processes^[283]

Fig. 16. Schematic of terahertz surface wave driven electron acceleration^[285]

Fig. 17. Ultra-low-loss thin-film lithium niobate microresonators. (a) Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of fabricated microdisk resonator; (b) SEM image of fabricated microring resonator; (c) transmission spectrum of cavity mode in telecom band, showing loaded Q factor of 7.5×10⁷ by Lorentz fitting; (d) intrinsic Q factor measured by cavity ring-down method^[315-316]

Fig. 18. Image captured by charge-coupled device (CCD) and stability analysis results of position in horizontal and vertical directions, and spacing of tin droplets in 10 s. (a) Measured diameter of droplets is ~40 μm at frequency of 100 kHz, and interval between two neighbor droplets is ~230 μm; (b) standard deviations of droplet position in horizontal and vertical directions and spacing of droplets^[330]

Fig. 19. Vertical subwavelength perovskite single-mode laser. (a) Schematic of vertical cavity laser under two-photon excitation^[340]; (b) pump intensity dependent emission spectra, where inset shows lasing peak width with full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 0.33 nm^[340]; (c) output intensity and FWHM of emission spectra under different pump fluence values, where insets are optical images showing emission below threshold (bottom) and above threshold^[340]; (d) cross-sectional distribution of laser device based on transparent vertical cavity^[341]; (e) single-mode laser spectra as function of pump density, where inset shows representative individual laser spectrum with FWHM of 0.24 nm^[341]; (f) lasing stability for 20 days of continuous operation in water^[341]