Generation of ultrabright beams in high energy Nd:glass and KrF laser systems

The development of ultrabright lasers is progressing rapidly particularly in the direction of table-top-terawatt systems operating at high pulse repetition rate with relatively low pulse energy. The highest pulse energies and highest absolute powers are being generated by the adaptation of larger-scale high energy laser systems operating in single pulse mode. The maximum focused intensity from either type of laser is determined by the beam brightness B which can be expressed in units of Watts cm where P is the power, lambda the wavelength and S the Strehl ratio, quantifying the ratio of brightness in a beam with less than diffraction limited quality to that in a diffraction limited beam

A charge coupled device television camera based system for imaging the distribution of OH in flames

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AMPLIFICATION OF XUV HARMONIC RADIATION IN A GALLIUM AMPLIFIER

We report the observation of amplification of an xuv harmonic pulse in an xuv laser. The 21st harmonic of a frequency-doubled 1.3-psec neodymium chirped-pulse-amplification laser pulse was injected into the gain region of an 18-mm-long Ga XXII x-ray amplifier. A gain of approximately 3 was recorded for the 21st harmonic, relative to the unamplified 19th and 23rd harmonics when the harmonic wavelength was tuned to overlap the 25.11-nm J=2-1 laser transition. © 1995 The American Physical Society

Frequency doubling of multi-terawatt picosecond pulses

International audienceThe frequency-doubling efficiency and resultant focal spot quality of a large aperture (140 × 89 mm) subpicosecond, chirped pulse amplified (CPA) 1054-nm beam for laser–matter interaction studies has been investigated using the Vulcan Nd:glass laser system (Danson et al. 1998). The effect of B-integral on the CPA beam quality was studied and is shown not to be the dominant cause of the observed frequency-doubled beam break-up. Conversion efficiency tests were carried out on small aperture KDP (type 1) crystals at a range of incident intensities up to 3 × 1011 W/cm2 giving the optimum crystal thickness for pulses in the 0.3–3 ps region. A large-aperture frequency-doubled beam was commissioned and delivered pulses of over 10 TW onto target for an electron acceleration experiment

Greater than 10¹⁹ Wcm^-2 irradiances for laser/plasma interaction studies

Peak irradiances in excess of 1019 Wcm-2 have been delivered to target with the VULCXN Nd:glass laser using chirped pulse amplification (CPA). Recent developments have achieved sub picosecond pulses with compressed output powers of 35 TW in a single large aperture beam, with focused intensities on target in excess of 1019 Wcm-2. <br/

35 TW pulse generation for laser-plasma interaction studies

We report the development at the VULCAN Nd:glass laser at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory of chirped pulseamplification (CPA) operation at 620 fs to give 35 TW in a single large aperture beam, with focused intensities on target in excess of 1019 Wcm-1.&amp;more...<br/