The rapid emergence and development of ultra-intense and ultra-fast lasers have created unprecedented physical conditions and novel experimental methods, enhancing and organizing human comprehension of natural laws while significantly advancing innovation in basic and interdisciplinary research, as well as strategic high-tech areas. Ultraintense and ultrafast laser devices have been pivotal in advancing human comprehension of fundamental laws governing the natural world and have contributed to the advancement of cutting-edge scientific research fields.

In terms of ultra-intensity, using chirped pulse amplification (CPA) technology, laser systems can achieve peak powers surpassing the petawatt (PW) level, reaching up to 10 PW, with focal intensities of 10²²‒10²³ W/cm². This enables easy tearing of electrons and atomic nuclei by ultraintense laser fields, enabling exploration at the subatomic level of microscopic structures. For an ultrafast laser, ultrafast pulses can achieve pulse widths in the femtosecond range, enabling the measurement of femtosecond-scale physical changes. The high temporal resolution properties of lasers are crucial for investigating molecular dissociation processes, which are essential in chemical research. Additionally, the use of ultra-intense ultrafast lasers to drive nonlinear processes, such as high-harmonic generation, can produce attosecond (10^-18 s) pulses, enabling the measurement of attosecond-scale electron dynamics.

An article in the “Opinion” column of the January 2010 issue of Nature, titled “2020 Visions,” has analyzed the development directions of key scientific fields for the next decade and presented prospects for 2020. This study predicted five major breakthroughs that may occur in the laser field over the next 10 years, with four of them directly related to ultra-intense ultra-fast lasers. The four breakthroughs include: the precise measurement of cosmic constants using ultra-precise laser clocks; the generation of new states of matter and the provision of carbon-free and infinite clean energy using next-generation lasers; tracking extreme ultrafast electron motions in chemical reactions with attosecond pulses; and the acceleration of electrons and protons to near-light speeds to achieve low-cost, desktop high-energy particle accelerators. An article in Science magazine has stated that the development of ultra-intense ultrafast lasers “will affect research on everything from fusion to astrophysics,” with significant applications in laser acceleration, laser fusion, attosecond science, atomic and molecular physics, materials science, nuclear physics, plasma physics, high-energy-density physics, astrophysics, high-energy physics, nuclear medicine, and other fields, rendering it one of the major frontiers in international scientific competition.

In recent years, the State Key Laboratory for High Field Laser Physics at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM) has developed multiple sets of ultra-intense ultra-fast laser devices, including a new generation of ultra-intense ultra-fast laser comprehensive experimental facilities, the Shanghai super-intense ultra-fast laser facility (SULF), and the construction of stations of extreme light (SEL) for Shanghai high-repetition-rate X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) and extreme light facility (SHINE), forming a group of devices represented by SULF.

The new generation of ultra-intense ultra-fast laser comprehensive experimental facilities aim to develop strategic advanced technologies such as ultra-intense ultra-fast laser-driven desktops and short-pulse XFELs, explore high-intensity attosecond coherent X-ray science and new fields of strong-field physics in the mid-infrared region, and address major scientific and technological issues in high-density high-energy electron laser acceleration in phase space. This novel generation consists of four systems: a high-performance multi-terawatt ultra-intense ultra-fast laser system with a high repetition rate, mid-infrared tunable ultra-intense ultra-fast laser system, laser wakefield electron acceleration and desktop XFEL system, and high-harmonic extreme ultra-violet (XUV) coherent light source system. These facilities can output multi-terawatt ultra-intense ultra-fast laser pulses at a wavelength of 800 nm with high repetition rates, mJ-level mid-infrared-tunable ultra-intense ultra-fast laser pulses, and high harmonic coherent radiation with photon energies ranging from 30.0 eV to 5.5 keV, as well as GeV-level high-quality electron beams and short-pulse XFELs.

The SULF mainly includes a 10 PW ultra-intense ultra-fast laser system with a high-repetition-rate output beamline at the 1-PW level. This laser system is used to drive the generation of high-brightness ultra-short pulse high-energy photons and particle beams, establishing three user experimental terminals: the dynamics of materials under extreme conditions (DMEC), ultrafast sub-atomic physics (USAP), and big molecule dynamics and extreme-fast chemistry (MODEC) platforms. This project aims to build the world’s first 10 PW ultra-intense ultra-fast laser system. The laser system achieves a peak power of 10 PW with a pulse duration of 30 fs, center wavelength of 800 nm, and maximum laser focusing intensity exceeding 10²² W/cm² while also providing a high repetition rate (0.1 Hz) 1 PW laser pulse output.

Using the research foundation of the SULF device, SIOM has innovatively proposed the establishment of an SEL device centered around a 100 PW ultra-intense ultra-fast laser on SHINE. Currently, the SEL-100 PW laser system has completed the front-end system of PW-level high-repetition-rate optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA), breaking through key laser technologies such as generating ultra-wideband seed lasers, high-fidelity OPCPA amplification, and managing ultra-wideband laser dispersion. The independently developed PW-level high-repetition-rate OPCPA prototype realized the research and validation of key technologies for PW-level new-bandwidth OPCPA, laying the technical foundation for the construction of a 100 PW laser system. This facility is currently the first and only initiated 100 PW laser project worldwide. Leveraging XFELs and 100 PW ultra-intense ultra-fast lasers can pave the way for new frontiers in strong relativistic physics research.

The development and application of ultra-intense ultrafast lasers represent the latest frontier and a key competitive area in international laser technology. This holds significant value and is one of the major frontiers in international scientific competition. The development trend of large-scale ultra-intense ultra-fast laser facilities includes further increasing peak power and focusing peak intensity, continuous enhancement of repetition rate and average power, further compression of laser pulse width, expansion of laser wavelengths, and transition from laboratory-based platforms to mobile platforms and even space-based and airborne platforms.

The construction of SULF is currently a focal point of international competition and represents an organic combination of basic research and engineering implementation. This facility can provide unprecedented research conditions for investigating material structures, motions, and interactions under extreme physical conditions, thereby deepening and systematizing the understanding of laws governing the objective world. This drives the exploration and development of interdisciplinary basic and frontier sciences and promotes innovation in related strategic high-tech fields, sparking technological transformations and creating new industries, which have social and economic benefits for outstanding project outcomes.