My grad work was in strong field ionization- however our intensities were just 10^16 W/cm^2-

I spent much time making computer models of atoms in stronger fields...

I actually found it very interesting and while my album page is a spoof, my project did make it into "physics today"....

there was a lot to be learned in that area- and there still is-will it ever pay off? I think so- in ways I cant forsee...

the amazing thing is that they are now making pulses in the attosecond regime- that is a nano-nano-second! 10^-18 seconds!

Lasers are one of the most rapidly developing fields- its kinda fun trying to keep up...