In 1985, the invention of the Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA) technique made it possible to amplify ultra-short laser pulses to high intensities. Now-adays, laser pulses containing only few optical cycles can be amplified to several tens of gigawatt on a daily basis, using compact table top systems, and lasers that even produce pulses of petawatt power are available at international laboratories. This book comprises the specification and description of two experiments which were carried out to research the interaction of high intensity, ultra-short laser pulses with matter. In the first...