Waseem Shaikh

Vulcan Petawatt—an ultra-high-intensity interaction facility

The Vulcan Nd : glass laser at the Central Laser Facility is a Petawatt (1015 W) interaction facility available to the UK and international user community. The facility came online to users in 2002 and considerable experience has been gained operating the Vulcan facility in this mode. The facility is designed to deliver irradiance on target of 1021 W cm−2 for a wide-ranging experimental programme in fundamental physics and advanced applications. This includes the interaction of super-high-intensity light with matter, fast ignition fusion research, photon induced nuclear reactions, electron and ion acceleration by light waves and the exploration of the exotic world of plasma physics dominated by relativity.

35 J broadband femtosecond optical parametric chirped pulse amplification system

We report on what is believed to be the first large-aperture and high-energy optical parametric chirped pulse amplification system. The system, based on a three-stage amplifier, shows 25% pump-to-signal conversion efficiency and amplification of the full 70 nm width of the seed spectrum. Pulse compression to 84 fs achieved after amplification indicates a potential of 300 TW pulse power for 35 J amplified pulse energy.

100 J-level nanosecond pulsed diode pumped solid state laser

We report on the successful demonstration of a 100 J-level, diode pumped solid state laser based on cryogenic gas cooled, multi-slab ceramic Yb:YAG amplifier technology. When operated at 175 K, the system delivered a pulse energy of 107 J at a 1 Hz repetition rate and 10 ns pulse duration, pumped by 506 J of diode energy at 940 nm, corresponding to an optical-to-optical efficiency of 21%. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the highest energy obtained from a nanosecond pulsed diode pumped solid state laser. This demonstration confirms the energy scalability of the diode pumped optical laser for experiments laser architecture.

Multiphoton ionisation and dissociation of NO2 by 50 fs laser pulses

Abstract Multiphoton ionisation and dissociation of NO 2 has been studied experimentally at 375 nm for laser pulse widths of 10 ns and 50 fs. The parent NO 2 ion peak is not seen in the ns data. In all spectra, the main peak observed is due to the ionisation of the NO molecule which results from the dissociation of excited NO 2 formed after absorbing a 375 nm photon. The intensity dependencies of both NO and NO 2 ion peaks have also been measured. The data has been analysed within the context of a rate equation model using published cross-sections and dissociation rates except for the two-photon ionisation cross-section for NO 2 which was chosen to reproduce the NO 2 /NO ion signal ratios at 50 fs. The rate equation model provides a good description of the complete set of data. Indirectly, it may be concluded that coherence effects do not play an important role in the multiphoton excitation/ionisation of NO 2 . The data also rules out the importance of above-ionisation dissociation in NO 2 — a conclusion which is consistent with previous data at 496 and 248 nm for laser pulse widths ⩾ 300 fs.

The angular distribution of atomic ions following the multiphoton ionisation of carbon monoxide

A laser of wavelength 600 nm, pulse length 0.6 ps and focused intensity approximately=3*1015 W cm2 is used to multiply ionise CO molecules. The fragmentation channels, for example (CO3+) implies C2++O+, are isolated using a form of triple coincidence called covariance mapping. The angular distribution of the various atomic ion pairs is found to be strongly peaked along the E vector of the highly linearly polarised laser and to a degree that increases slowly with ionisation stage.

An achromatic lens for focusing femtosecond pulses: direct measurement of femtosecond pulse front distortion using a second-order autocorrelation technique

Abstract Pulse front distortion of ultrashort laser pulses in lenses used for ultrahigh intensity focusing in multiphoton ionisation experiments was measured using a second-order cross-correlation technique. An achromatic lens designed for diffraction limited f 2 focusing was shown to eliminate pulse front distortion and this was compared with the distortion caused by an f 2 doublet lens.

High-brightness femtosecond laser using titanium–sapphire technology and amplification in dyes

We modify a conventional picosecond dye-amplifier system to achieve maximum brightness for 100-fs pulses derived from a titanium-sapphire oscillator. We obtain near transform-limited 4-GW pulses by using efficient chirped-pulse amplification and compression based on a prism-pair stretcher and a glass-block compressor. Good beam quality and minimum beam divergence are obtained with a Bethune cell final amplifier. The system is shown to be capable of generating beam brightness in excess of 2 × 10(7) W cm(-2) sr(-1), within a factor of 2 of that expected for a diffraction-limited beam.

DiPOLE100: A 100 J, 10 Hz DPSSL using cryogenic gas cooled Yb:YAG multi slab amplifier technology

In this paper we provide an overview of the design of DiPOLE100, a cryogenic gas-cooled DPSSL system based on Yb:YAG multi-slab amplifier technology, designed to efficiently produce 100 J pulses, between 2 and 10 ns in duration, at up to 10 Hz repetition rate. The current system is being built at the CLF for the HiLASE project and details of the front end, intermediate 10J cryo-amplifier and main 100J cryo-amplifier are presented. To date, temporal and spatial pulse shaping from the front end has been demonstrated, with 10 ns pulses of arbitrary shape (flat-top, linear ramps, and exponentials) produced with energies up to 150 mJ at 10 Hz. The pump diodes and cryogenic gas cooling system for the 10J cryo-amplifier have been fully commissioned and laser amplification testing has begun. The 100J, 940 nm pump sources have met full specification delivering pulses with 250 kW peak power and duration up to 1.2 ms at 10 Hz, corresponding to 3 kW average power each. An intensity modulation across the 78 mm square flat-top profile of < 5 % rms was measured. The 100J gain media slabs have been supplied and their optical characteristics tested. Commissioning of the 100J amplifier will commence shortly.

Application of a picosecond laser plasma continuum light source to a dual-laser plasma photoabsorption experiment

The characteristics of an extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) continuum light source and its application to a dual-laser plasma (DLP) photoabsorption experiment are described. The continuum emitting plasma was formed by focusing a 7 ps, 248 nm, 15 mJ laser pulse onto a number of selected targets known to be good XUV continuum emitters (Sm, W, Au and Pb), while the second absorbing plasma was produced by a 15 ns, 1064 nm, 300 mJ pulse. The duration of the continuum emission for these plasmas has a mean value of ~150 ps, but depends on both the target material and the picosecond laser pulse energy. Using this picosecond DLP set-up we have been able to measure the photoabsorption spectrum of an actinide ion (thorium) for the first time.

Reflectivity experiments with 60 femtosecond laser pulses

The reflectivity of solid silicon and aluminium targets has been measured at a fixed angle of incidence as a function of focused intensity for 60 fs pulses of 750 nm laser light. It was found that, even for intensities in excess of W , there was no observable change in reflectivity from the low intensity value. This is taken to indicate that there is no formation of a high density gaseous plasma during the laser pulse. However, examination of the silicon target shows significant damage spots that indicate that melting and possibly gaseous plasma formation do occur after the pulse.