The technological breakthrough opened a new branch of high power laser science and seeded major science programmes internationally. The original publication on the new concept has attracted over 550 citations as of 2016.
The OPCPA scheme also forms a basis of the proposed upgrade of CLF's Vulcan laser facility to deliver hundred times higher intensities and twenty times higher peak powers (from 1 PW to 20 PW) reaching a world record output. The new regime will permit novel physics phenomena to be studied.
Reference:
The prospects for ultrashort pulse duration and ultrahigh intensity using optical parametric chirped pulse amplifiers
IN Ross, P Matousek, M Towrie, AJ Langley, JL Collier,
Optics Communications 144, 125 (1997) doi:10.1016/S0030-4018(97)00399-4
