Petawatt Research Articles

Experimental investigation on the temporal contrast of pre-pulses by post-pulses in a petawatt laser facility

We experimentally explore the generation of pre-pulses by post-pulses, created through internal reflection in the optical components, by the nonlinear process associated with the B-integral in the laser chain of the petawatt (PW) facility J-KAREN-P. At a large time delay between the main and the post-pulses, we have found that the pre-pulses are not generated from their counterpart post-pulses at an identical time difference before the main pulse, and the temporal shapes of the pre-pulses are greatly distorted asymmetrically. We have also observed that the peak intensities of the pre-pulses are drastically suppressed compared to the expected value at a small time delay. We briefly describe the origins of the pre-pulses generated by the post-pulses and demonstrate the removal of the pre-pulses by switching to optical components with a small wedge angle at our PW laser facility.

Quantum Mechanisms of Electron and Positron Acceleration through Nonlinear Compton Scatterings and Nonlinear Breit-Wheeler Processes in Coherent Photon Dominated Regime

Electric force is presently the only means in laboratory to accelerate charged particles to high energies, corresponding acceleration processes are classical and continuous. Here we report on how to accelerate electrons and positrons to high energies using ultra intense lasers (UIL) through two quantum processes, nonlinear Compton scattering and nonlinear Breit-Wheeler process. In the coherent photon dominated regime of these two processes, the former can effectively boost electrons/positrons and the latter can produce high energy electrons and positrons with low energy γ photons. The energy needed for such quantum acceleration (QA) is transferred from large numbers of coherent laser photons through the two quantum processes. QA also collimate the generated high energy electrons and positrons along the laser axis and the effective acceleration distance is of microscopic dimensions. Proof of principle QA experiment can be performed on 100 petawatt (PW) scale lasers which are in building or planning.

Simulations of carbon ion acceleration by 10 PW laser pulses on ELI-NP

AbstractWe present results of 2D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of carbon ion acceleration by 10 petawatt (PW) laser pulses, studying both circular polarized (CP) and linear polarized (LP) pulses. We carry out a thickness scanning of a solid carbon target to investigate the ideal thickness for carbon ion acceleration mechanisms using a 10 PW laser with an irradiance of 5 × 1022 W cm−2. The energy spectra of carbon ions and electrons and their temperature are studied. Additionally, for the carbon ions, their angular divergence is studied. It is shown that the ideal thickness for the carbon acceleration is 120 nm and the cutoff energy for carbon ions is 5 and 3 GeV for CP and LP pulses, respectively. The corresponding carbon ions temperature is ~1 and ~0.75 GeV. On the other hand, the energy cutoff for the electrons is ~500 MeV with LP and ~400 MeV with CP laser pulses. We report that the breakout afterburner mechanism is most likely causing the acceleration of carbon ions to such high energies for the optimal target thickness.

Achieving Extreme Light Intensities using Optically Curved Relativistic Plasma Mirrors.

This Letter proposes a realistic implementation of the curved relativistic mirror concept to reach unprecedented light intensities in experiments. The scheme is based on relativistic plasma mirrors that are optically curved by laser radiation pressure. Its validity is supported by cutting-edge three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations and a theoretical model, which show that intensities above 10^{25} W cm^{-2} could be reached with a 3 PetaWatt (PW) laser. Its very high robustness to laser and plasma imperfections is shown to surpass all previous schemes and should enable its implementation on existing PW laser facilities.

High-performance seed pulses at 910 nm for 100 pw laser facilities by using single-stage nondegenerate four-wave mixing.

As the first step in a 100 petawatt (PW) laser facility, seed pulses with high performance are important to guarantee the quality of the output laser pulse. Here we propose a novel method based on a single-stage four-wave mixing process for the generation of seed pulses with a smooth and broadband spectrum, high energy, and high temporal contrast (TC). As high as 250μJ pulses at approximately 910nm central wavelength with a high TC and broader than 200nm bandwidth are obtained in a piece of transparent medium directly after a commercial Ti:sapphire amplifier. The angular dispersion of the generated seed pulse is linear to the wavelength, which can be compensated well by using angular dispersive optics, such as a prism. The extremely simple process and setup make the output seed pulses stable and reliable for 100PW laser facilities.

Investigation of accelerated carbon ions with the presence of QED effect by ultra-intense high-power lasers

In this study, we have investigated carbon ions, fast electrons and gamma-ray energy spectra and the corresponding temperatures when next-generation 10 petawatt (PW) lasers (irradiances of $$5\times 10^{22} \, {\mathrm {W}}\, {\mathrm {cm}}^{-2}$$ ) hit solid targets with a preformed plasma at the front surface. We employed 2D particle-in-cell (PIC) code with the presence of quantum electrodynamics (QED) effects. The maximum energy reached by the accelerated particles, and the corresponding temperature due to nonlinear plasma processes can be affected by varied plasma scale lengths. Here, we show the effects of varied plasma scale lengths on particle acceleration at irradiances on the order of $$10^{22}\,{\mathrm {W}}\,{\mathrm {cm}}^{-2}$$ , which is a new development for laser technology. We have observed that fully ionized carbon ions can reach up to 2.5 GeV energies with an optimum plasma scale length of $$1\, \upmu \hbox {m}$$ and the corresponding temperature of 40 MeV. Accelerated electron energies reach up to 1.5 GeV with the temperatures of 50 MeV for 10 PW laser–plasma interactions with the presence of QED effects. We have demonstrated that by varying plasma scale length, heavy ion energy and temperature can be controlled, which is important for various applications such as hadron therapy and X-ray imaging.

Experimental demonstration of a laser proton accelerator with accurate beam control through image-relaying transport

A compact laser plasma accelerator (CLAPA) that can stably produce and transport proton ions with different energies less than 10 MeV, $l1%$ energy spread, several to tens of pC charge, is demonstrated. The high current proton beam with continuous energy spectrum and a large divergence angle is generated by using a high contrast laser and micron thickness targets, which later is collected, analyzed and refocused by an image-relaying beam line using a combination of quadrupole and bending electromagnets. It eliminates the inherent defects of the laser-driven beams, realizes precise manipulation of the proton beams with reliability, availability, maintainability and inspectability (RAMI), and takes the first step towards applications of this new generation of accelerator. With the development of high-rep rate Petawatt (PW) laser technology, we can now envision a new generation of accelerator for many applications in the near future soon.

Quantum electrodynamics experiments with colliding petawatt laser pulses

A new generation of high power laser facilities will provide laser pulses with extremely high powers of 10 petawatt (PW) and even 100 PW, capable of reaching intensities of $10^{23}~\text{W}/\text{cm}^{2}$ in the laser focus. These ultra-high intensities are nevertheless lower than the Schwinger intensity $I_{S}=2.3\times 10^{29}~\text{W}/\text{cm}^{2}$ at which the theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED) predicts that a large part of the energy of the laser photons will be transformed to hard Gamma-ray photons and even to matter, via electron–positron pair production. To enable the investigation of this physics at the intensities achievable with the next generation of high power laser facilities, an approach involving the interaction of two colliding PW laser pulses is being adopted. Theoretical simulations predict strong QED effects with colliding laser pulses of ${\geqslant}10~\text{PW}$ focused to intensities ${\geqslant}10^{22}~\text{W}/\text{cm}^{2}$.

Mini-Review of Intra-Stark X-ray Spectroscopy of Relativistic Laser–Plasma Interactions

Intra-Stark spectroscopy (ISS) is the spectroscopy within the quasi-static Stark profile of a spectral line. The present paper reviews the X-ray ISS-based studies recently advanced for the diagnostics of the relativistic laser–plasma interactions. By improving experiments performed on the Vulcan Petawatt (PW) laser facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), the simultaneous production of the Langmuir waves and of the ion acoustic turbulence at the surface of the relativistic critical density gave the first probe by ISS of the parametric decay instability (PDI) predicted by PIC simulations. The reliable reproducibility of the experimental signatures of PDI—i.e., the Langmuir-wave-induced dips—allowed measurements of the fields of the Langmuir and ion acoustic waves. The parallel theoretical study based on a rigorous condition of the dynamic resonance depending on the relative values of the ion acoustic and the Langmuir fields could explain the disappearance of the Langmuir dips as the Langmuir wave field increases. The ISS used for the diagnostic of the PDI process in relativistic laser–plasma interactions has reinforced the reliability of the spectral line shape while allowing for all broadening mechanisms. The results can be used for a better understanding of intense laser–plasma interactions and for laboratory modelling of physical processes in astrophysical objects.

Exploration of Strong Field Physics with Multi-PW Lasers

At the Center for Relativistic Laser Science (CoReLS) petawatt (PW) lasers have been developed for the investigations of strong field physics. The CoReLS has successfully upgraded one of the existing PW laser beamlines to a 4 PW laser at 20 fs. From laser-driven charged-particle acceleration experiments, multi-GeV electrons and 90-MeV protons can be generated using the laser wakefield acceleration and the radiation pressure acceleration schemes, respectively. The GeV electron beam can be, in turn, used for Compton backscattering with another PW laser. Such a Compton scattering process can be examined for other quantum electrodynamics (QED) effects, including the radiation reaction effect and the Breit-Wheeler pair production process. PW lasers have, thus, offered new opportunities to pursue novel physics research in relativistic plasma physics, strong field quantum electrodynamics, nuclear physics and laboratory astrophysics.

Diagnostics, Control and Performance Parameters for the BELLA High Repetition Rate Petawatt Class Laser

A laser system producing controllable and stable pulses with high power and ultrashort duration at high repetition rate is a key component of a high energy laser-plasma accelerator (LPA). Precise characterization and control of laser properties are essential to understanding laser-plasma interactions required to build a 10-GeV class LPA. This paper discusses the diagnostics, control and performance parameters of a 1 Hz, 1 petawatt (PW) class laser at the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator (BELLA) facility. The BELLA PW laser provided up to 46 J on target with a 1% level energy fluctuation and 1.3-μrad pointing stability. The spatial profile was measured and optimized by using a camera, wavefront sensor, and deformable mirror (ILAO system). The focus waist was measured to be r0 = 53 μm and the fraction of energy within the circular area defined by the first minimum of the diffraction pattern (r = 67 μm) was 0.75. The temporal profile was controlled via the angle of incidence on a stretcher and a compressor, as well as an acousto-optic programmable dispersive. The temporal pulse shape was measured to be about 33 fs in full width at half maximum (WIZZLER and GRENOUILLE diagnostics). In order to accurately evaluate peak intensity, the energy-normalized peak fluence, and energy-normalized peak power were analyzed for the measured spatial and temporal mode profiles, and were found to be 15 kJ/(cm2 J) with 6% fluctuation (standard deviation) and 25 TW/J with 5% fluctuation for 46-J on-target energy, respectively. This yielded a peak power of 1.2 PW and a peak intensity of 17×1018 W/cm2 with 8% fluctuation. A method to model the pulse shape for arbitrary compressor grating distance with high accuracy was developed. The pulse contrast above the amplified spontaneous emission pedestal was measured by SEQUOIA and found to be better than 109. The first order spatiotemporal couplings (STCs) were measured with GRENOUILLE, and a simulation of the pulse's evolution at the vicinity of the target was presented. A maximum pulse front tilt angle of less than 7 mrad was achieved. The reduction of the peak power caused by the first order STCs was estimated to be less than 1%. The capabilities described in thispaper are essential for generation of high quality electron beams.

10 mJ femtosecond Ti: Sapphire regenerative amplifier with large mode size

With advent of chirped-pulse amplification, the peak power of femtosecond laser pulse was reached to petawatt (PW) or hundreds of terawatt (TW). Many progresses of high-field physics and ultrafast dynamics in matter are achieved using TW or PW laser. Pre-amplifier is an exponential growth amplifier which is also a bridge between oscillator and power amplifier. The best choice of pre-amplifier is amplification in regenerative cavity, due to its high stability and beam quality. The quality of pre-amplified laser pulse is significant to efficiency and beam quality of the successive power amplifier. High energy pre-amplifier with high beam quality will reduce the requirement of pump laser in final power amplifier. But typical regenerative amplifier only support low output energy of few millijoule. Higher energy from only one regenerative amplifier is crucial to whole laser system. High energy regenerative amplifier can be achieved by increasing the size of TEM00 in cavity. A new femtosecond Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier with large mode size was demonstrated in this letter. The regenerative cavity is designed as stable linear resonator in which end mirrors are planar, the diameter of beam waist in Ti:sapphire crystal is larger than 2 mm, which can support high energy pulse amplified in cavity. By matching the focal spot of pump laser with the size of mode and optimization of cavity, the output laser energy up to 17.4 mJ was achieved under the pump energy of 60 mJ at repetition rate of 10 Hz, which corresponds to the efficiency of 29%. The amplified laser pulse from regenerative amplifier was compressed in a grating-pair compressor. By carefully alignment of incident angle and distance between the two gratings of compressor, the shortest pulses duration of 40.6 fs and energy of 13.9 mJ are obtained, which is a little bit longer than Fourier-transform limit based on spectrum of laser. The dispersion in the CPA laser system was also analyzed, after optimization of compressor, there are still high order dispersions uncompensated, which results in the duration of compressed pulses longer than Fourier-transform limit. Based on this large mode size regenerative amplifier, peak power of 1.9 TW laser pulses which compressed pulse energy of 81.4 mJ in 43 fs were also further realized by following only one stage of multipass amplifier. The beam quality (M2) was measured to be 1.6 and 1.5 in X and Y directions respectively, and the energy stability is 2.15% (rms). The results show that this large mode size regenerative amplifier is an ideal choice of pre-amplifier in TW laser system.

Laser-induced damage threshold tests of ultrafast multilayer dielectric coatings in various environmental conditions relevant for operation of ELI beamlines laser systems

Increasing the laser-induced damage resistance of optical components is one of the major challenges in the development of Peta-watt (PW) class laser systems. The extreme light infrastructure (ELI) beamlines project will provide ultrafast laser systems with peak powers up to 10 PW available every minute and PW class beams at 10 Hz complemented by a 5-TW, 1-kHz beamline. Sustainable performance of PW class laser systems relies on the durability of the employed optical components. As part of an effort to evaluate the damage resistance of components utilized in ELI beamlines systems, damage thresholds of several optical multilayer dielectric coatings were measured with different laser parameters and in different environments. Three coatings were tested with 10 Hz and 1 kHz pulse repetition rates, and the effect of a cleaning treatment on their damage resistance was examined. To explore the damage threshold behavior at different vacuum levels, one coating was subject to tests at various residual gas pressures. No change of damage threshold in a high vacuum with respect to ambient pressure was recorded. The effect of the cleaning treatment was found to be inconsistent, suggesting that development of the optimal cleaning treatment for a given coating requires consideration of its specific properties.

Temporal characterization of petawatt class laser at Shen Guang II facility

Temporal characterization is important to diagnose and measure a petawatt (PW) class laser. We obtained the V curve of the pulse width versus the grating position using pulse width measurement with a mirror image configuration. The temporal range for pulse width was 18 ps with a resolution of 0.05 ps. We measured the pulse contrast between the -60 ps and -6 ps PW class laser within a single shot in the Shen Guang II facility. We measured the pulse contrast between the -91 ps and -60 ps PW class laser after expanding the temporal range. The temporal range was 70 ps, with a dynamic range of eight orders of magnitude.

Proton acceleration by single-cycle laser pulses offers a novel monoenergetic and stable operating regime

Prompted by the possibility to produce high energy, single-cycle laser pulses with tens of Petawatt (PW) power, we have investigated laser-matter interactions in the few optical cycle and ultra relativistic intensity regimes. A particularly interesting instability-free regime for ion production was revealed leading to the efficient coherent generation of short (femtosecond; 10−15s) monoenergetic ion bunches with a peak energy greater than GeV. Of paramount importance, the interaction is absent of the Rayleigh Taylor Instabilities and hole boring that plague techniques such as target normal sheath acceleration and radiation pressure acceleration.

Parametric study of transport beam lines for electron beams accelerated by laser-plasma interaction

In the last decade, laser-plasma acceleration of high-energy electrons has attracted strong attention in different fields. Electrons with maximum energies in the GeV range can be laser-accelerated within a few cm using multi-hundreds terawatt (TW) lasers, yielding to very high beam currents at the source (electron bunches with up to tens-hundreds of pC in a few fs). While initially the challenge was to increase the maximum achievable electron energy, today strong effort is put in the control and usability of these laser-generated beams that still lack of some features in order to be used for applications where currently conventional, radio-frequency (RF) based, electron beam lines represent the most common and efficient solution. Several improvements have been suggested for this purpose, some of them acting directly on the plasma source, some using beam shaping tools located downstream. Concerning the latter, several studies have suggested the use of conventional accelerator magnetic devices (such as quadrupoles and solenoids) as an easy implementable solution when the laser-plasma accelerated beam requires optimization. In this paper, we report on a parametric study related to the transport of electron beams accelerated by laser-plasma interaction, using conventional accelerator elements and tools. We focus on both, high energy electron beams in the GeV range, as produced on petawatt (PW) class laser systems, and on lower energy electron beams in the hundreds of MeV range, as nowadays routinely obtained on commercially available multi-hundred TW laser systems. For both scenarios, our study allows understanding what are the crucial parameters that enable laser-plasma accelerators to compete with conventional ones and allow for a beam transport. We show that suitable working points require a tradeoff-combination between low beam divergence and narrow energy spread.

Non-scanning systems for far-infrared radiation detection from laser-induced plasmas

With the development of ultraintense terawatt (TW) and petawatt (PW) laser systems, powerful terahertz (THz) radiation from laser–plasma interactions has been reported. Plasma-based THz systems, which are usually operated at extremely low repetition rates, call for single-shot diagnostics. In this paper, various state-of-the-art single-shot detection methods are introduced or designed for measurements and applications involved in high-power plasma-based THz sciences.

Fiber ICAN laser with exawatt-picosecond pulses for fusion without nuclear radiation problems

AbstractOne of the numerous applications of the ICAN laser using the advantage of fiber optics with chirped pulse amplification (CPA), is the scheme of side-on initiation of a nuclear fusion flame in solid density fuel with laser pulses of shorter than picosecond (ps) duration and power in the petawatt (PW) and higher range. The ICAN Fiber optics has special advantages with the potential that >900 PW spherical laser pulses may ignite the proton reaction with 11B (HB11) without the problem of dangerous radioactive radiation. Though secondary reactions can be estimated very roughly, the feasibility of a power station with the necessary energy gains can be concluded.

Enhancement of Electron Energy to the Multi-GeV Regime by a Dual-Stage Laser-Wakefield Accelerator Pumped by Petawatt Laser Pulses

Laser-wakefield acceleration offers the promise of a compact electron accelerator for generating a multi-GeV electron beam using the huge field gradient induced by an intense laser pulse, compared to conventional rf accelerators. However, the energy and quality of the electron beam from the laser-wakefield accelerator have been limited by the power of the driving laser pulses and interaction properties in the target medium. Recent progress in laser technology has resulted in the realization of a petawatt (PW) femtosecond laser, which offers new capabilities for research on laser-wakefield acceleration. Here, we present a significant increase in laser-driven electron energy to the multi-GeV level by utilizing a 30-fs, 1-PW laser system. In particular, a dual-stage laser-wakefield acceleration scheme (injector and accelerator scheme) was applied to boost electron energies to over 3GeV with a single PW laser pulse. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations corroborate the multi-GeV electron generation from the dual-stage laser-wakefield accelerator driven by PW laser pulses.

Shock mechanisms by ultrahigh laser accelerated plasma blocks in solid density targets for fusion

Ignition of nuclear fusion flames in solid state density fuel following Chuʼs model of 1972 is evaluated using now available plasma blocks from ultrahigh acceleration with laser pulses of picosecond (ps) duration and power up to and beyond petawatt (PW). A new numerical approach is reported where genuine two-fluid hydrodynamics is used in order to study the shock mechanism of the generated fusion flame, its propagation velocities above 1000 km / s , and fusion efficiencies for deuterium–tritium needing an energy flux of 10 8 J / cm 2 . The results of the built-up of the shock process are reported showing a basic difference between the ps and nanosecond (ns) properties. ► Nuclear fusion of solid state deuterium–tritium. ► Plasma blocks driven by nonlinear (ponderomotive) forces ignite solid fuel. ► Study the shock mechanism of the generated fusion flame. ► A new numerical approach is reported where genuine two-fluid hydrodynamics is used. ► Study of the built-up of the shock process.