Laser-accelerated secondary sources for multidisciplinary applications.

The advent of high-power (TW) ultra-short (fs-ps) lasers has recently opened up the field of laser-driven plasma acceleration, which includes the acceleration of electrons, protons and X-rays. The investigation of these secondary sources and its use has triggered considereable investments and is currently challenging many research laboratories worldwide, in particular for the improved characteristics of these sources such as compactness, versatility and tunability. Among the manifold applications that these sources can enable we can cite their use as injector for large-scale accelerators, in medicine, fusion, materials science and cultural heritage. In this contribution I will give a brief overview about laser-plasma sources and some of their applications.