Self-phase-locked frequency-by-two divider OPO with a residual fractional frequency instability of 8.1O(-18)

We directly measure the phase difference between the subharmonic waves of a self-phase-locked frequency by-2-divider OPO using a phase-sensitive detector scheme. The relative frequency instability of frequency division by 2 is measured to be 8.10(-18

Laser gain measurements at 193 nm in a small discharge cell containing ArF excimer laser gas mixtures

Spatial and temporal gain profiles as well as the peak net gain at 193 nm have been measured in X-ray preionized discharges excited by a single pulse electrical system working in the charge transfer mode. Ar- and F2-containing laser gas mixtures with He or Ne as a buffer gas have been used. With a pumping pulse duration of ~ 100 ns (FWHM) and a specific peak power deposition of ~ 1 MW cm-3 bar-1 in a gas mixture containing F2 : Ar : He (0.1%:5%:94.9%), at 2 bar total pressure, a very high peak net gain coefficient of ~30% cm-1 was measured in the gas discharge. The FWHM of the gain waveform was ~ 60 n

Coherent and incoherent radiation from a channel-guided laser wakefield accelerator

Coherent and incoherent electromagnetic radiation emitted from a\ud channel-guided laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) is calculated based on the\ud Lienard–Wiechert potentials. It is found that at wavelengths longer than the\ud bunch length, the radiation is coherent. The coherent radiation, which typically\ud lies in the infrared range, shows features that reveal details of the acceleration process and properties of the electron bunch, such as its duration, charge, energy, and offset with respect to the wakefield axis. It is found that the LWFA emits energy predominantly in the coherent range of frequencies. The incoherent range of the spectrum, which extends to the x-ray frequency range, consists of rather broad peaks caused by the acceleration. The radiated energy, power and the pulse duration are estimated

Charged particle interaction with a chirped electromagnetic pulse

It is found that a charged particle can get a net energy gain from the interaction with an electromagnetic chirped pulse. Theoretically, the energy gain increases with the pulse amplitude and with the relative frequency variation in the pulse

Generation of ultra-short relativistic-electron-bunch by a laser wakefield

The possibility of the generation of an ultra-short (about one micron long) relativistic (up to a few GeVs) electron-bunch in a moderately nonlinear laser wakefield excited in an underdense plasma by an intense laser pulse is investigated. The ultra-short bunch is formed by trapping, effective compression (both in longitudinal and in transverse directions) and acceleration of an initially nonrelativistic (with kinetic energy of a few hundreds keVs) e-bunch that is injected in front of the laser pulse. The initial bunch may be of poor quality, may have a duration in the order of the laser pulse length or longer and can be generated by a laser-driven photo-cathode RF gun. Our 1D and 3D calculations predict that the accelerated ultra-short bunch will show a low energy spread of less than one percent and a low transverse emittance in the order of a nanometer. An energy gain in the GeV-range is feasible at an accelerating distance of a few centimetres. The total number of accelerated electrons is restricted by the beam loading effect only and can reach a value of 10/sup 8/-10/sup 9/

Temporal extension of stable glow discharges in fluorine-based excimer laser gas mixtures by the addition of xenon

The effect of addition of xenon on the long term homogeneity of discharges in F2and ArF excimer laser gas mixtures was investigated in a small-volume discharge chamber. The gas mixture in the discharge chamber was preionized by X-rays. A special electrical excitation circuit containing a pulse forming line provided a long, square-shaped current pumping pulse of a predetermined duration to the discharge electrodes. The initiation and the development of the discharge was monitored via its fluorescence signal with an intensified CCD camera. We found that adding Xe up to partial pressures of 0.53 mbar extended the homogeneous phase of the discharge from 80 ns to approximately 200 ns in He/F2as well as in He/Ar/F2and Ne/Ar/F2excimer laser gas mixtures. Monitoring of the ArF and XeF spontaneous emission signals showed that the formation of ArF excimers remained unaffected by the addition of xenon (up to 1.3 mbar) to the laser gas mixture

Femtosecond electron-bunch dynamics in laser wakefields and vacuum

Recent advances in laser wakefield acceleration demonstrated the generation of extremely short (with a duration of a few femtoseconds) relativistic electron bunches with relatively low (of the order of couple of percent) energy spread. In this article we study the dynamics of such bunches in drift space (vacuum) and in channel-guided laser wakefields. Analytical solutions were found for the transverse coordinate of an electron and for the bunch envelope in the wakefield in the case of arbitrary change in the energy. Our results show strong bunch dynamics already on a millimeter scale propagation distance both in plasma and in vacuum. When the bunch propagates in vacuum, its transverse sizes grow considerably; the same is observed for the normalized bunch emittance that worsens the focusability of the bunch. A scheme of two-stage laser wakefield accelerator with small drift space between the stages is proposed. It is found that fast longitudinal betatron phase mixing occurs in a femtosecond bunch when it propagates along the wakefield axis. When bunch propagates off axis, strong bunch decoherence and fast emittance degradation due to the finite bunch length was observed

Long-pulse KrCl laser with a high discharge quality \ud

The discharge quality and optimum pump parameters of a long-pulse high-pressure gas discharge excited KrCl laser are investigated. A three-electrode prepulse–mainpulse excitation circuit is employed as pump source. The discharge volume contains a gas mixture of HCl/Kr/Ne operated at a total pressure of up to 5 bar. For a plane–plane resonator, the divergence of both output laser beams is measured. A low beam divergence of less than 1 mrad is measured as a result of the very high discharge homogeneity. A maximum laser pulse duration of 150 ns (FWHM) is achieved for a pump duration of 270 ns (FWHM) and a power density of 340 kW cm-3. Pumping the discharge under optimum conditions employing a stable resonator results in a maximum specific energy of 0.45 J/l with a laser pulse duration of 117 ns and an efficiency of 0.63% based on the deposited energy

Mid-infrared wavelength- and frequency-modulation spectroscopy with a pump-modulated singly-resonant optical parametric oscillator

We describe the implementation of the wavelength- and frequency-modulation spectroscopy techniques using a singly-resonant optical parametric oscillator (OPO) pumped by a fiber-amplified diode laser. Frequency modulation of the diode laser was transferred to the OPO¿s mid-infrared idler output, avoiding the need for external modulation devices. This approach thus provides a means of implementing these important techniques with powerful, widely tunable, mid-infrared sources while retaining the simple, flexible modulation properties of diode lasers

Liner radius fluctuations in a high-gain Cherenkov free-electron laser

Phase shifts in the propagating electromagnetic field of a Cherenkov free-electron laser (CFEL) can affect its gain. The phase velocity of an electromagnetic wave varies, for example, when the lined waveguide is inhomogeneous along its length. In this paper, we study quantitatively the saturated power of a particular CFEL at both weak and strong electron-beam pumping when the inner radius of the liner contains fluctuations along the waveguide. We show that the gain bandwidth of the CFEL is substantially broadened when the CFEL is pumped with a high-current beam. We also show that the design of a CFEL needs to include optimization with respect to sensitivity to liner fluctuations, especially for weakly pumped CFELs, that is, CFELs that use a low-current electron-beam density. This optimization can be relaxed for more strongly pumped CFELs