Multi-petawatt laser facility fully based on optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification.

Area of Science:

• Laser Physics
• High-Intensity Lasers
• Nonlinear Optics

Background:

• All-optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (AOPCPFA) is a promising technique for generating high-power laser pulses.
• Previous AOPCPFA systems have faced limitations in achieving multi-petawatt peak powers and ultrashort pulse durations simultaneously.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report the development and performance of a novel 3-cascaded AOPCPFA laser facility.
• To demonstrate record-breaking peak power and ultrashort pulse compression in a PW-class laser system.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a 3-cascaded AOPCPFA architecture.
• Optimization of pulse compression techniques to achieve sub-20 fs pulse widths.
• Precise energy and pulse width measurements after amplification and compression.

Main Results:

• Achieved a maximum energy of 168.7 J after the final amplifier and 91.1 J after the compressor.
• Generated a compressed pulse with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 18.6 fs.
• Attained a peak power of 4.9 petawatts (PW), the highest reported for an AOPCPFA facility to date.

Conclusions:

• The developed 3-cascaded AOPCPFA laser facility represents a significant advancement in high-power laser technology.
• This work establishes a new benchmark for peak power in AOPCPFA systems and demonstrates the feasibility of achieving sub-20 fs pulses at the PW level.