Harmonically mode-locked laser pulse accumulation in a self-resonating optical cavity.

Area of Science:

• Laser Physics and Photonics
• X-ray Generation Technologies
• Optical Cavity Design

Background:

• Optical enhancement cavities are crucial for increasing accessible optical power through coherent laser pulse stacking.
• Existing systems often require dedicated feedback controllers for maintaining laser pulse accumulation.
• Laser-Compton scattering is a key method for generating X-ray sources.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel optical cavity for accumulating harmonically mode-locked laser pulses.
• To enable a self-resonating mechanism for X-ray sources based on laser-Compton scattering.
• To enhance the practical operability of laser-Compton scattering X-ray sources.

Main Methods:

• Designed and implemented a Fabry-Perot optical cavity utilizing high-reflectance mirrors (99%).
• Employed a self-resonating mechanism for feedback-free optical resonance.
• Investigated the cavity's ability to maintain resonance and automatically resume accumulation.

Main Results:

• The Fabry-Perot cavity maintained optical resonance in a feedback-free manner for over 30 minutes.
• The system demonstrated automatic resumption of laser pulse accumulation after suspension.
• Achieved stable accumulation of harmonically mode-locked laser pulses.

Conclusions:

• The developed self-resonating optical cavity offers a practical advantage over conventional systems for laser-Compton scattering X-ray sources.
• This approach can improve the operability and equipment utilization of these X-ray sources.
• Potential for upscaling and wider adoption in advanced X-ray generation applications.