The world’s first 5-femtosecond multi-Gigawatt Ti:sapphire laser system. Photonics Institute, Vienna University of Technology, 1997

The world’s first laboratory source of coherent X-rays in the water window (270-550 eV; 2.3-4.4 nm) produced by irradiating helium atoms with 0.3-millijoule, 5-femtosecond near-infrared (750-nm) pulses from a Ti:sapphire laser. The purple fluorescence emission originates from ionized high-density helium gas streaming out of a thin metal tube through holes bored by the focused laser beam. The X-ray harmonics are emitted coherently in a well collimated beam collinear to the laser beam, which propagates along the axis of the purple emission. Photonics Institute, Vienna University of Technology, 1997. Photo courtesy of Dr. Gabriel Tempea.

The world’s first source of light pulses shorter than one femtosecond,  generated by exposing neon atoms to 0.3-millijoule, 5-femtosecond, near-infared laser pulses. The fluorescence emission originates from  ionizing neon atoms streaming from the interaction volume (thin metal tube). Photonics Institute, Vienna University of Technology, 2000, courtesy of Dr. Gabriel Tempea. The movie shows the vacuum beamline used for generating and measuring the sub-femtosecond pulses along with the 5-fs laser system constituting the pump source, courtesy of Dr. Matthias Schnürer.  

The world’s first coherent source of kiloelectronvolt radiation (wavelength ~ 1 nm). The coherent X-rays are produced by irradiating helium atoms with 1-millijoule, 5-femtosecond near-infrared (750-nm) pulses from a Ti:sapphire laser. The purple fluorescence emission originates from ionized high-density helium gas streaming out of a thin metal tube through holes bored by the focused laser beam. The X-ray harmonics are emitted coherently in a well collimated beam collinear to the laser beam, which propagates along the axis of the purple emission. Photonics Institute, Vienna University of Technology, 2003. Courtesy of Dr. Jozsef Seres.  

The world’s first source of intense waveform-controlled laser light generates 0.3-mJ, 5-fs laser pulses in the near infrared (wavelength ~ 750 nm) with a controlled evolution of the several oscillations of the electric and magnetic fields.    

A sequence of ultrabroad-band chirped multilayer dielectric mirrors compress pulses of visible laser light for the first time to a duration below 4 femtoseconds. The spectrum of the radiation extends from less than 550 nm to more than 1100 nm. It is produced by self-phase modulation in a short piece (~ 4 mm) of single-mode optical fiber fed by a sub-10-fs Ti:sapphire oscillator. Photonics Institute, Vienna University of Technology, 2003. Courtesy of Dr. Alexander Apolonsky.

Image of the field oscillations in a few-cycle pulse of red laser light sampled with 250-attosecond x-ray pulses. For more details.
see http://www.attoworld.de/attoworld/attosecreclightwaves.html
Courtesy of Dr. Eleftherios Goulielmakis. 

First real-time observation of the motion of electrons deep in the interior of an excited atom. For more details, see http://www.attoworld.de/attoworld/slowmotion.html 
Copyright: The New York Times. 

First-generation attosecond beamline (AS-0) used for the generation and measurement of sub-femtosecond pulses. The system was originally developed at the Photonics Institute of the Vienna University of Technology (1999-2001) and rebuilt at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in 2003-2004.

Enabling technology for producing intense few-cycle laser pulses: broadband visible-infrared laser pulses are compressed to 5 femtoseconds upon being reflected off several specially-designed chirped multilayer dielectric mirrors. Separation of the individual frequency components of the broadband radiation reveals that colours all the way from the blue to the infrared with precise timing (ensured by the chirped mirrors) are required to create a sub-5-fs pulse.  

Proprietary chirped-pulse oscillator (CPO) technology allows the production of microjoule-scale sub-100-fs pulses at a repetition rate of several Megahertz from Ti:sapphire oscillators. Femtosecond CPO sources permit nanometre-precision machining of dielectrics both on the surface and within the bulk.

The new attosecond measurement system AS-1. A commercial Ti:sapphire laser (Femtopower Pro) delivers waveform-controlled few-cycle, 5-fs red (750-nm) laser pulses at a repetition rate of 4 kHz. The laser pulses produce isolated several-hundred-attosecond extreme ultraviolet pulses in the first (smaller) vacuum chamber. In the second (larger) chamber both beams - the red few-cycle laser pulse and the (invisible) extreme ultraviolet attosecond pulse - are used for real-time observation of hitherto unaccessibly rapid electron motion inside atoms, molecules, and solids.

The high-field experimental area outside the radiation protection bunker in an early and recent phase of its construction. The experimental work stations are shown are being used for high-power attosecond pulse generation from solid surfaces, for ion acceleration and for time-resolved X-ray diffraction experiments

The vacuum chamber for electron acceleration in a capillary discharge waveguide.
The laser arrives from above the right chamber and is focussed into the middle chamber, where the capillary is located.
The left part of the chamber contains diagonstics for both the electron and the transmitted laser beams.

Gas-filled capillary discharge waveguide. By firing the discharge a plasma channel is created inside the capillary in which guiding of the laser beam and/or electron acceleration can take place

Double experimental chamber for Gigaelectronvolt-scale electron acceleration in a capillary discharge waveguide with multi-10-TW laser pulses. The laser pulse enters the right chamber, from where it is focused into the small chamber in the middle housing the capillary waveguide. Electrons and laser light then propagate to the left chamber, where both electron and laser diagnostics are located. The experimental work station is located in a radiation protection area surrounded by 1-m-thick concrete walls.   Double experimental chamber for Gigaelectronvolt-scale electron acceleration in a capillary discharge waveguide with multi-10-TW laser pulses. The laser pulse enters the right chamber, from where it is focused into the small chamber in the middle housing the capillary waveguide. Electrons and laser light then propagate to the left chamber, where both electron and laser diagnostics are located. The experimental work station is located in a radiation protection area surrounded by 1-m-thick concrete walls.  

Light wave sythesizer 10 (LWS-10). LWS-10 is a 10 TW sub-10-fs light source based on the novel optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) technique. OPCPA provides higher gain and much broader bandwidth and so much shorter pulses than conventional lasers. A weak seed laser pulse originating from a commercial 1 kHz rep. rate laser system is temporally stretched to 40 ps and parametrically amplified in two consecutive non-linear optical crystals. During this amplification process the energy of an 80 ps long pump laser is transferred to the seed and the unrequired idler. Afterwards the amplified seed is compressed temporally to 8-9 fs.

Inside of the electron acceleration vacuum chamber, where electrons are characterized. A scintillating screen indicates the angular distribution and divergence of the electrons. An integrating current transformer, sort of coil, is used to determine the charge of the electron bunches.
Plastic and lead shields are used to filter undesirable particles and radiation. The electron energy spectrum up to 400 MeV is measured by a permanent magnet electron spectrometer.