42  PW, 20  fs Ti:sapphire laser at 01  Hz

Abstract

We demonstrated the generation of 4.2 PW laser pulses at 0.1 Hz from a chirped-pulse amplification Ti:sapphire laser. The cross-polarized wave generation and the optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification stages were installed for the prevention of the gain narrowing and for the compensation of the spectral narrowing in the amplifiers, obtaining the spectral width of amplified laser pulses of 84 nm (FWHM), and enhancing the temporal contrast. The amplified laser pulses of 112 J after the final booster amplifier were compressed to the pulses with 83 J at 19.4 fs with a shot-to-shot energy stability of 1.5% (RMS). This 4.2 PW laser will be a workhorse for exploring high field science.

Radiation reaction in electron–beam interactions with high-intensity lasers

“…While these points are undoubtedly of fundamental interest, it is important to note that radiation reaction and quantum effects will be unavoidable in experiments with high-intensity lasers and therefore these questions are of immense practical interest as well. This is motivated by the fast-paced development of large-scale, multipetawatt laser facilities [6]: today's facilities reach focussed intensities of order 10 22 Wcm −2 [7][8][9], and those upcoming, such as Apollon [10], ELI-Beamlines [11] and Nuclear Physics [12], aim to reach more than 10 23 Wcm −2 , with the added capability of providing multiple laser pulses to the same target chamber. At these intensities, radiation reaction will be comparable in magnitude to the Lorentz force, rather than being a small correction, as is familiar from storage rings or synchrotrons.…”

Highly efficient laser-driven Compton gamma-ray source

“…The laser pulse is characterized by a spatially Gaussian profile s = -( ) a a r exp 0 2 2 with σ=8.8λ L and a temporally Gaussian profile with duration of τ=28 fs (full width at half maximum, FWHM). Such laser pulse can be achieved by the femtosecond petawatt lasers at CoReLS [38]. In the simulations, the plasma target is composed of the NCD plasma layer and a thin solid-density aluminum plasma layer.…”

“…Based on the very recent technological advances in high-power short-pulse laser with a very high contrast [36][37][38], in this article, we propose a highly efficient approach to produce copious gamma photons by irradiating a high-intensity laser pulse on a microsized bilayer plasma device, which consists of a near-critical-density (NCD) plasma lens [39][40][41] and a solid-density plasma mirror [42]. The plasma lens acts to strongly compress the laser pulse and simultaneously provides the source for high-charge (tens of nC) and high-energy (hundreds of MeV) electrons, which are directly accelerated by the enhanced laser field (∼100 TV m −1 ) within tens of micrometers.…”

High repetition rate Petawatt lasers

“…Several projects to arrive to the next step -10 PW-are well advanced particularly for intensity lasers. At the time of writing the two leading systems are at the Shanghai SuperintenseUltrafast Lasers Facility, SULF, Shanghai [7] and at the Center for Relativistic Laser Science, Institute for Basic Science, Gwangju, South Korea [8] both close to 5 PW, while 10 PW systems are under construction in the Extreme Laser Infrastructure ELI, …”