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Optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) implemented using multikilojoule Nd:glass pump lasers is a promising approach to produce ultra-intense pulses (>10^23 W/cm^2) [1]. Systems using deuterated potassium dihydrogen phosphate (DKDP) for high-energy amplifiers are being developed by a number of institutions
[2–4]. Noncollinear optical parametric amplifiers (NOPA’s) made of DKDP produce broadband gain for supporting pulses as short as 10 fs centered near 920 nm. Large-aperture DKDP crystals (>400 mm) make it possible to use Nd:glass lasers as kilojoule pump sources. Although OPCPA is now routinely used as a broadband front-end technology for many hybrid systems, scaling OPCPA to energies >100 J is still an active area of laser research and development.
This paper reports on a technology development program at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics where progress is being made toward the long-term goal of a femtosecond-kilojoule system pumped by the OMEGA EP laser. The goal is to pump an optical parametric amplifier line (EP OPAL) with two of the OMEGA EP beamlines. The resulting ultra-intense pulses (1.5 kJ, 20 fs, 10^24 W/cm^2) would be used jointly with picosecond and nanosecond pulses produced by the other two beamlines.
A midscale all-OPCPA laser is being designed and constructed to address the technical challenges of the full-scale system. The mid-scale OPAL pumped by the Multi-Terawatt (MTW) laser will produce 7.5-J, 15-fs pulses and demonstrate scalable technologies suitable for the upgrade. MTW OPAL will share a target area with the MTW laser (50 J, 1 to 100 ps), enabling several joint-shot configurations. We report on the status of the MTW OPAL system, and the technology development required for this class of all OPCPA laser system for ultra-intense pulses.
This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration under Award Number DE-NA0003856, the University of Rochester, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
References
1. Ross, I. N., Matousek, P., Towrie, M., Langley, A. J. and Collier, J. L., “The prospects for ultrashort pulse duration and ultrahigh intensity using optical parametric chirped pulse amplifiers,” Opt. Commun. 144(1-3), 125-133 (1997).
2. Lozhkarev, V. V., Freidman, G. I., Ginzburg, V. N., Khazanov, E. A., Palashov, O. V., Sergeev, A. M. and Yakovlev, I. V., “Study of broadband optical parametric chirped pulse amplification in a DKDP crystal pumped by the second harmonic of a Nd:YLF laser,” Laser Phys. 15(9), 1319-1333 (2005).
3. Tang, Y., Ross, I. N., Hernandez-Gomez, C., New, G. H. C., Musgrave, I., Chekhlov, O. V., Matousek, P. and Collier, J. L., “Optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification source suitable for seeding high-energy systems,” Opt. Lett. 33(20), 2386-2388 (2008).
4. Cartlidge, E., “The light fantastic,” Science 359(6374), 382-385 (2018).
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