M. Pittman

Design and demonstration of a high-energy booster amplifier for a high-repetition rate petawatt class laser system

We have successfully developed a high-energy, high-repetition rate Ti:sapphire laser system that delivers 33 J before compression at 0.1 Hz. The final booster amplifier is based on a 100 mm diameter Ti:sapphire crystal pumped with 72 J of energy in six beams delivered by three frequency-doubled high-repetition rate Nd:glass lasers. This system is, to the best of our knowledge, the first demonstrated petawatt class laser system running at a high repetition rate.

Transient absorption of symmetrical carbocyanines

Abstract Transient absorption in several symmetrical cyanine and carbncyanine dyes is measured by time-resolved spectroscopy with subpicosecond white-light continuum in a wide spectral range (0.35–1 μm). The results are compared with data available in the literature on ultrashort and long-lived transients. The linear shift law observed here for the S1Sn absorption bands in the wavelength scale allows one to predict the main induced absorption bands for members of several carbocyanine families (vinylogous series) which have not yet been studied. In the case of the shortest methine chains (cyanines and monocarbocyanines) a tew transient absorption bands are assigned to the formation of photoisomers. The absolute values of the excited-state or photoisomer cross sections of polymethine carbocyanines are evaluated by global spectral analysis, from the measured differential optical density spectra. Several cases of large values (higher than 10) of the absorption cross section ratio (excited/ground state) are found at new wavelengths, which allows applications of photo-induced absorption to photonics and laser technologies over a broad spectral range.

Subpicosecond reverse saturable absorption in organic and organometallic solutions

Solutions of several carbocyanines, phthalocyanines and naphthalocyanines were studied by time-resolved transient spectroscopy with subpicosecond white-light continuum. The excited-state absorption cross-sections of all compounds were determined from the differential spectra obtained at short delay time after excitation, by a global spectral analysis. All these molecules exhibit an excited-state absorption cross-section higher than that of the ground state at 610 nm. This spectral property gives rise to a reverse saturable absorption (RSA) effect under high laser fluences at this wavelength. Nonlinear transmission of these molecules was measured under increasing laser fluences. A three-level molecular model was used to simulate the measured nonlinear transmission and the best fits were obtained with molecular parameters in good agreement with those deduced from the analysis of the transient spectra. The use of RSA for the energy stabilization of ultrashort laser pulses was demonstrated, and a stabilization coefficient was defined as an efficient tool for characterizing nonlinear behavior of such compounds.

A proposal for multi-tens of GW fully coherent femtosecond soft X-ray lasers

X-ray free-electron lasers1, 2 delivering up to 1 × 1013 coherent photons in femtosecond pulses are bringing about a revolution in X-ray science3, 4, 5. However, some plasma-based soft X-ray lasers6 are attractive because they spontaneously emit an even higher number of photons (1 × 1015), but these are emitted in incoherent and long (hundreds of picoseconds) pulses7 as a consequence of the amplification of stochastic incoherent self-emission. Previous experimental attempts to seed such amplifiers with coherent femtosecond soft X-rays resulted in as yet unexplained weak amplification of the seed and strong amplification of incoherent spontaneous emission8. Using a time-dependent Maxwell–Bloch model describing the amplification of both coherent and incoherent soft X-rays in plasma, we explain the observed inefficiency and propose a new amplification scheme based on the seeding of stretched high harmonics using a transposition of chirped pulse amplification to soft X-rays. This scheme is able to deliver 5 × 1014 fully coherent soft X-ray photons in 200 fs pulses and with a peak power of 20 GW.

Optimization of a tabletop high-repetition-rate soft x-ray laser pumped in double-pulse single-beam grazing incidence

This Letter reports on the optimization of a tabletop nickel-like molybdenum transient collisionally excited soft x-ray laser (SXRL) at 18.9 nm performed by a double-pulse single-beam grazing incidence pumping (DGRIP). This scheme allows for the first time, to our knowledge, the full control of the pump laser parameters including the pre-pulse duration optimally generating the SXRL amplifier under a grazing incidence. The single-beam geometry of the collinear double-pulse propagation guarantees the ideal overlap of the pre-pulse and main pulse from shot to shot resulting in a more efficient and highly stable SXRL output. SXRL energies up to 2.2 microJ are obtained with a total pump energy less than 1 J for several hours at a 10 Hz repetition rate without realignment under once optimized double pumping pulse parameters including energy ratio, time delay, pre-pulse and main pulse durations, and line focus width.

Investigations of collisionally pumped optical field ionization soft-x-ray lasers

We report recent investigations of optical field ionization soft-x-ray lasers. We generated the amplifying medium by focusing a circularly polarized 760-mJ, 30-fs 10-Hz Ti:sapphire laser system into a gas cell a few millimeters long filled with xenon or krypton gas. A gain of 67 cm-1 on the 4d95p–4d95d transition at 41.8 nm in Pd-like xenon and a gain–length product of 15 have been inferred at saturation. This source delivers ∼5×109 photons per pulse. More recently we demonstrated lasing at 32.8 nm in Ni-like krypton. The influence of the pumping energy and the laser polarization on the lasing output as well as on the far-field pattern of the x-ray laser beam are reported and discussed.

Low energy prepulse for 10 Hz operation of a soft-x-ray laser

The influence on Nickel-like Molybdenum soft-x-ray laser performance and stability of a low energy laser prepulse arriving prior to the main laser pumping pulses is experimentally investigated. A promising regime for 10 Hz operation has been observed. A four times increase in soft-x-ray laser operation time with a same target surface is demonstrated. This soft-x-ray laser operation mode corresponds to an optimum delay between the prepulse and the main pulses and to a prepulse energy greater than 20 mJ. We also show that this regime is not associated with a weaker degradation of the target or any reduced ablation rate. Therefore the role of preplasma density gradient in this effect is discussed.

Q-switched laser-assisted grazing incidence pumping (QAGRIP) for efficient soft x-ray laser generation.

We have investigated a new scheme for laser plasma transient collisional soft x-ray lasers based on the use of an additional laser to produce the preplasma. Soft x-ray emission measurements made for different solid targets are presented and discussed. A significant enhancement of the SXRL emission as compared to double-pulse single-beam grazing incidence (DGRIP) using the same pump laser is reported for 13.9- and 32.6-nm SXRL wavelengths.

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).

Temporal characterization of a picosecond extreme ultraviolet laser pumped in grazing incidence

We report an experimental study of the temporal duration of a transient pumping extreme ultraviolet (XUV) laser emitted at 18.9 nm, using an ultrafast x-ray streak camera. We have investigated the shot-to-shot reproducibility of the pulse duration, as well as its behaviour as a function of several pumping parameters. Our results show that the pulse duration increases slowly with the pump pulse duration, in agreement with previous observations performed in a different geometry. The angle of the pump laser relative to the target surface also affects the XUV laser duration in a measurable way.