超强激光在气体等离子体中传输时可以激发出大振幅的电子等离子体尾波。激光等离子体尾波加速器是利用该尾波对带电粒子（特别是电子和正电子）进行加速的一种新型装置。由于其加速梯度相较于现有的常规加速器可以提升1000倍，为建造超紧凑型的加速器和辐射源奠定了基础，也为将来建造基于等离子体的超高能正负电子对撞机和自由电子激光装置提供了可能。对该新型加速器的原理、特点、发展历程，尤其是近十年来的主要进展和未来发展趋势及面临的主要挑战进行简要梳理和介绍。

The temporal profiles of high-power short-pulse lasers reflected from self-induced plasma mirrors (PMs) were measured with high temporal resolution in the sub-picosecond window. The leading front shape of the laser pulse is found to depend sensitively on the laser fluence on the PM surface. Spectral modulation plays a key role in pulse profile shaping. Our findings will extend our knowledge on properly using PMs.

The influence of laser temporal contrast on high-order harmonic generation from intense laser interactions with solid-density plasma surfaces is experimentally studied. A switchable plasma mirror system is set up to improve the contrast by two orders of magnitude at 10 ps prior to the main peak. By using the plasma mirror and tuning the prepulse, the dependence of high-order harmonic generation on laser contrast is investigated. Harmonics up to the 21st order via the mechanism of coherent wake emission are observed only when the targets are irradiated by high contrast laser pulses by applying the plasma mirror.