Federico Canova

ILE 25PW single laser beamline: The French step for the European Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI)

We present the design of a single ultra intense laser beamline delivering 25PW pulses at one shot per minute as a first step of an ultra intense high field science European project (extreme light infrastructure).

Pump Beams Homogenization for Terawatt / Petawatt Class Ti:Sapphire Amplifiers

Our goal is to design robust configurations for Terawatt/Petawatt-class power amplifiers. We investigate the processes involved in Ti:Sa pumping: damage threshold of amplifying material, beam transport (relay-image or homogenization) and coherence properties of pump lasers.

Analysis and solutions for parasitic lasing in Petawatt and multi-Petawatt Ti: sapphire laser systems

We have studied experimentally and theoretically the parasitic lasing phenomenon in large-aperture Ti:sapphire crystals to optimize amplification schemes of multi-petawatt class Ti:sapphire laser. Simulations and experimental results of high power amplification will be presented.

Towards high energy 10 fs laser pulse via regenerative pulse shaping

We demonstrated the use of regenerative pulse shaping approach to obtain ultrashort pulses with at the output of titanium: sapphire laser system. This scheme can be scaled to higher output energy and sub 10fs pulses.

Design of pump beam homogenizers for Petawatt class Ti:Sapphire systems using MIRO code

The pumping of large Ti:sapphire crystals, in order to reach petawatt-level laser amplification, is the careful control of the spatial energy distribution of 100 Joule-class SHG Nd:glass pump lasers. Nanosecond neodymium-based pump lasers exhibit poor spatial and temporal profile quality, which can lead to local hot spots, responsible for strong intensity modulations and irreversible damage to the expensive Ti: Sapphire crystal. We have studied and designed pump beam homogenizers using MIRO simulation code. The performances of diffractive optical systems to smoothen the spatial and temporal profiles of intense nanosecond pump beams are strongly dependent on input beam temporal and spatial coherence.

Beams homogenization and shaping to pump Petawatt class Ti:sapphire crystals

We have studied and designed an optical solutions to homogenize and shape the spatial profile of intense nanosecond pump beams to be used for a Petawatt-class Ti:sapphire amplifier. Simulations and experimental results will be presented.