Title :
Optical Design of Astra Gemini Petawatt Amplification System
Author :
Chekhlov, O. ; Divall, E.J. ; Ertel, K. ; Hooker, C.J. ; Hawkes, S.J. ; Hancock, S. ; Langley, A.J. ; Collier, J.L.
Author_Institution :
CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Lab., Didcot
Abstract :
The Astra Gemini laser system is a dual-beam petawatt class CPA Ti: sapphire laser system which is being built at the Central Laser Facility as an upgrade to the existing Astra laser. Each beam will deliver 15 J in 30 femtoseconds on target (i.e. 0.5 PW), but the dual beam concept allows us not only to achieve petawatt power level on target with relatively small sizes of optics and compressor gratings, but also to access a wider range of science applications. The system is based on two multipass Ti:Sapphire amplifiers pumped by 4 beams at the second harmonic of a Nd:glass laser with an energy 25 J in each beam. The input for the amplifiers is the 1.5 J output of the existing Astra laser system stretched twice in the existing stretcher to give a 1 ns pulse length. 25 J amplified output will be compressed in vacuum grating compressors to give 0.5 PW power in each beam.
Keywords :
diffraction gratings; laser beams; optical design techniques; optical harmonic generation; optical pulse compression; optical pumping; sapphire; solid lasers; titanium; Al2O3:Ti; Astra Gemini petawatt amplification system; Nd:glass laser pumping; dual-beam CPA laser system; energy 1.5 J; energy 15 J; energy 25 J; multipass amplifiers; optical design; power 0.5 PW; pulse compression; second harmonic generation; time 30 fs; vacuum grating compressors; Gratings; Laser beams; Laser excitation; Laser theory; Optical amplifiers; Optical design; Pulse amplifiers; Pump lasers; Stimulated emission; Ultrafast optics;
Conference_Titel :
Lasers and Electro-Optics, 2007 and the International Quantum Electronics Conference. CLEOE-IQEC 2007. European Conference on
Conference_Location :
Munich
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-0931-0
Electronic_ISBN :
978-1-4244-0931-0
DOI :
10.1109/CLEOE-IQEC.2007.4386358
