Abstract
We present the results of the first commissioning phase of the short-focal-length area of the Apollon laser facility (located in Saclay, France), which was performed with the first available laser beam (F2), scaled to a nominal power of 1 PW. Under the conditions that were tested, this beam delivered on-target pulses of 10 J average energy and 24 fs duration. Several diagnostics were fielded to assess the performance of the facility. The on-target focal spot and its spatial stability, the temporal intensity profile prior to the main pulse, and the resulting density gradient formed at the irradiated side of solid targets have been thoroughly characterized, with the goal of helping users design future experiments. Emissions of energetic electrons, ions, and electromagnetic radiation were recorded, showing good laser-to-target coupling efficiency and an overall performance comparable to that of similar international facilities. This will be followed in 2022 by a further commissioning stage at the multi-petawatt level.
Highlights
INTRODUCTIONHigh-power lasers have become indispensable tools to investigate extreme states of matter subject to ultrastrong electromagnetic fields, enabling a plethora of scientific and technical applications, including the generation of unprecedentedly dense beams of energetic particles, the development of ultrashort and/or ultrabright photon sources, and the laboratory reproduction of high-energy astrophysical phenomena
High-power lasers have become indispensable tools to investigate extreme states of matter subject to ultrastrong electromagnetic fields, enabling a plethora of scientific and technical applications, including the generation of unprecedentedly dense beams of energetic particles, the development of ultrashort and/or ultrabright photon sources, and the laboratory reproduction of high-energy astrophysical phenomena.1,2The Apollon laser system, near completion on the Orme des Merisiers campus in Saclay, France, will be among the first multi-petawatt (PW) user facilities worldwide devoted to studying laser–matter interactions at laser intensities exceeding 2 3 1022 W cm−2
A number of diagnostics employing active detectors were subjected to tests in which they were operated over a series of shots without the need to retrieve detection materials
Summary
High-power lasers have become indispensable tools to investigate extreme states of matter subject to ultrastrong electromagnetic fields, enabling a plethora of scientific and technical applications, including the generation of unprecedentedly dense beams of energetic particles, the development of ultrashort and/or ultrabright photon sources, and the laboratory reproduction of high-energy astrophysical phenomena.. We report on the current status of the Apollon laser and present the results of the first commissioning experiment that took place in the SFA in May 2021, using the F2 beamline. This experiment was devoted to quantifying the potential of this laser for particle (electron and ion) acceleration and x-ray generation, as well as to characterizing the level of the accompanying electromagnetic pulse (EMP)..
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