Photonics (Sep 2022)

Compressing High Energy Lasers through Optical Polymer Films

  • Jonathan Wheeler,
  • Gabriel Petrişor Bleotu,
  • Andrei Naziru,
  • Riccardo Fabbri,
  • Masruri Masruri,
  • Radu Secareanu,
  • Deano M. Farinella,
  • Gabriel Cojocaru,
  • Razvan Ungureanu,
  • Elsa Baynard,
  • Julien Demailly,
  • Moana Pittman,
  • Razvan Dabu,
  • Ioan Dancus,
  • Daniel Ursescu,
  • David Ros,
  • Toshiki Tajima,
  • Gerard Mourou

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics9100715
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 10
p. 715

Abstract

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The thin-film post-compression technique has the ability to reduce the pulse duration in PW-class lasers, increasing the peak power. Here, the nonlinear response of an increasingly available optical thermoplastic demonstrates enhanced spectral broadening, with corresponding shorter pulse duration compared to fused silica glass. The thermoplastic can be used close to its damage threshold when refreshed using a roller mechanism, and the total amount of material can be varied by folding the film. As a proof-of-principle demonstration scalable to 10-PW, a roller mechanism capable of up to 6 passes through a sub-millimeter thermoplastic film is used in vacuum to produce two-fold post-compression of the pulse. The compact design makes it an ideal method to further boost ultrahigh laser pulse intensities with benefits to many areas, including driving high energy acceleration.

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