Towards exawatt laser power and sub-attosecond pulses

Interview with Gérard Mourou, project coordinator of the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI)

Abstract

What physics could evolve if we neglected all the current technical problems in laser physics? Gérard Mourou and some colleagues started to explore this question more than ten years ago. The result was a broad vision of new laserphysics in the ultra high intensity regime. Now the idea has gained momentum with a giant European research collaboration. Andreas Thoss spoke to Gérard Mourou about the initiative's currentstatus.