M.A. Martyanov

Compact 300-J/300-GW Frequency-Doubled Neodymium Glass Laser—Part I: Limiting Power by Self-Focusing

Small-scale self-focusing is the main cause of power limitation in nanosecond Nd:glass lasers. We report pioneer observation in experiment of laser beam noise amplification for B -integral (nonlinear phase) order of unity, i.e., without destruction of nonlinear medium. Analytical dependences of noise amplification coefficient on the B-integral have been obtained for one nonlinear medium as well as for two nonlinear media separated by an air gap with image relay. A simple analytical dependence has been found for an optimal distance between two nonlinear media for which the maximum allowable value of B -integral increases from 2.7 to 4.3. The maximum attainable energy in neodymium-phosphate glass lasers with rod amplifiers 10 cm in diameter is 400 J with a pulse duration of 1 ns.

Compact 300-J/300-GW Frequency-Doubled Neodymium Glass Laser—Part II: Description of Laser Setup

All the basic elements of a 300 J/1 ns Nd:glass laser with high-efficiency (70%) frequency conversion are described in detail. These include a seed laser, a system shaping the spatial structure of the beam, a six-cascade amplifier based on neodymium phosphate glass rods 10-100 mm in diameter, and a second-harmonic generator on a DKDP crystal with ooe interaction. Reliable and easy operation guaranteed long-term functioning of the laser as a pump for the output cascade of a chirped pulse parametric amplifier in a petawatt laser complex.

Study of the Powerful Nd:YLF Laser Amplifiers for the CTF3 Photoinjectors

A high-power neodymium-doped yttrium lithium fluoride (Nd:YLF) mode-locked 1.5-GHz laser currently used to drive the two photoinjectors of the Compact Linear Collider Test Facility project at the European Organization for Nuclear Research is described. A phenomenological characterization of the two powerful Nd:YLF amplifiers is presented and compared with the measurements. The laser system operates in a saturated steady-state mode. This mode provides good shot-to-shot stability with pulse train mean power in the 10 kW range.

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.

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.

Frequency doubling of 300J/1ns Nd:glass laser pulses

Two types of interaction at second harmonic generation of Nd:glass laser are compared theoretically and experimentally. If beam depolarization >1%, ooe-interaction is preferable. A 72% efficiency has been obtained at the fundamental harmonic of 300 J.

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.

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

200TW peak power at 45 fs pulse duration (910 nm central wavelength) has been achieved experimentally using three optical parametrical amplifiers based on KD*P crystals. Energy conversion efficiency of the final amplifier stage was 25%.

A compact 100 J/100 GW pump laser for broadband chirped pulse optical parametric amplifier

The described laser system comprises a Nd:YLF pulse-repetitive laser, a tabletop 100 J pulsed Nd:glass laser and a beam shaper. The system is synchronized with a femtosecond laser and used as pump of optical parametric amplifier.