E.V. Katin

200 TW 45 fs laser based on optical parametric chirped pulse amplification

200 TW peak power has been achieved experimentally using a Cr:forsterite master oscillator at 1250 nm, a stretcher, three optical parametrical amplifiers based on KD*P (DKDP) crystals providing 14.5 J energy in the chirped pulse at 910 nm central wavelength, and a vacuum compressor. The final parametrical amplifier and the compressor are described in detail. Scaling of such architecture to multipetawatt power is discussed.

Adaptive acousto-optic technique for femtosecond laser pulse shaping

We discuss the theoretical and experimental investigation of acousto-optic dispersive tunable filters, based on quasi-collinear geometry of light-sound interaction in a tellurium dioxide single crystal. The geometry uses the effect of strong acoustic anisotropy in the paratellurite as well as peculiarities of acoustic wave reflections at the free boundary of the crystal. A mathematical concept for determination of optical, electrical, and constructional parameters of the filters is developed. Different experimental acousto-optic filters intended for femtosecond pulse shaping are designed and tested. Preliminary experiments are performed in a subpetawatt optical parametric chirped pulse amplification laser system. The experimental data conform completely with the predicted data.

100-TW Femtosecond Laser Based on Parametric Amplification

In experiments on the parametrical amplification of femtosecond pulses in wide-aperture DKDP crystals, a power of more than 100 TW has been reached, which is much higher than the record level achieved in such lasers. The energy efficiency obtained for the parametric amplifier is equal to 27%. The energy of a 72-fs pulse is equal to 10 J.

New scheme of a petawatt laser based on nondegenerate parametric amplification of chirped pulses in DKDP crystals

The ultra-broadband phase matching was experimentally observed in a DKDP crystal upon parametric amplification of signal radiation with a wavelength of 911 nm in a pump field with a wavelength of 527 nm. The original scheme was used to excite the first parametric amplification stage by chirped pulses of idler radiation with a wavelength of 1250 nm. The saturated gain of a three-stage parametric amplifier was equal to 108.

1 petawatt OPCPA laser in Russia: Status and expectations

In spite of the fact that the petawatt level has been attained quite a time ago [ 1 ], only a few petawatt facilities are available worldwide. One of them, a 056 PW OPCPA facility, was created at the Institute of Applied Physics in 2006 [ 2 ]. The main OPCPA merit is a possibility of power scaling. In the current work we report construction of still another Russian OPCPA-based laser complex.

JINR LHEP photoinjector prototype

A photoinjector prototype for future electron–positron colliders and free-electron lasers (FEL) is being developed at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR). A 30-keV photogun stand, transmission (backside irradiated) photocathode concept, and stand investigations of such cathodes in collaboration with Institute of Electrical Engineering (IEE SAS) (Bratislava, the Slovak Republic) are described. A progress report on creating the photoinjector at an electron energy of up to 400 keV with a unique 10-ps laser driver is given.

Application of Petawatt pARametric Laser (PEARL)—Laser Wakefied Acceleration

In this paper we discuss laser weak field acceleration experiments made at the PEtawatt pARametric Laser (PEARL). Using free 2 mm gas jet without preplasma we generated electron beam with energy up to 200 MeV, angular divergence 0.2 degree, and charge 10 pC. The special attention is paid for diagnostics which is adapted for low repetition rate systems with low output parameters stability.

Initial experiments on electron acceleration driven by OPCPA laser

Experiments on electron and ion acceleration using powerful laser radiation have been successfully carried out lately. A possibility to get high electron energies amounting hundreds of MeV and even GeV, the electron energy spread being small and the angular spectrum being narrow, makes laser-driven accelerators interesting and promising for many applications in atomic physics, medicine, etc.

Tabletop 300J 1ns Nd:glass laser with 3 diffraction-limited beam divergence

This paper describe tabletop 300J Nd:glass laser is used to pump a broadband chirped pulse optical parametric amplifier and constitutes part of a 0,5 PW femtosecond setup. Beam divergence was measured in the focal plane of a non-aberration objective with a focal distance of 3m. The measurements showed that 90% of beam energy was concentrated in an angle 35 murad. The second harmonic generator is made of a 22-mm-long KD*P crystal (oee type). The second harmonic energy was up to 190J.

Synchronization of three master oscillators for multi-petawatt OPCPA laser system

Optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA) is widely used instead of traditional chirped pulse amplification in femtosecond lasers. In this paper we describe synchronization of the cw femtosecond Cr:forsterite laser with two Q-switched Nd:YLF master oscillators, In experiment we achieved a jitter between the cw fs Cr:forsterite laser and the Nd:YLF master oscillator as low as 100ps and jitter between two Nd:YLF master oscillators as low as 200ps. It satisfies requirements for the multi-petawatt OPCPA laser system.