Spatial and temporal evolution of electromagnetic pulses generated at Shenguang-Ⅱseries laser facilities

The distribution and sources of EMPs produced at Shenguang-Ⅱ(SG-Ⅱ)series laser facilities are systematically investigated.The results indicate that the EMP amplitudes in the SG-Ⅱps PW laser are very strong,one order higher than those from the SG-Ⅱlaser facility.EMPs outside the target chamber decrease exponentially with the distance from the measuring points to the target chamber center at the two laser facilities.Moreover,EMPs can be remarkably reduced when the picosecond laser together with the nanosecond laser is incident to targets compared to the SG-Ⅱps PW laser alone.The resulting conclusions are expected to offer experimental supports for further effective EMPs shielding design and achievement in high-power laser facilities.

Theoretical analysis of frequency modulation-to-amplitude modulation on the final optics and target of the SG Ⅱ-Up laser facility

Frequency modulation(FM)-to-amplitude modulation(AM) conversion is an important factor that affects the time±power curve of inertial confinement fusion(ICF) high-power laser facilities. This conversion can impact uniform compression and increase the risk of damage to optics. However, the dispersive grating used in the smoothing by spectral dispersion technology will introduce a temporal delay and can spatially smooth the target. The combined effect of the dispersive grating and the focusing lens is equivalent to a Gaussian low-pass filter, which is equivalent to 8 GHz bandwidth and can reduce the intensity modulation on the target to below 5% with 0.3 nm @ 3 GHz + 20 GHz spectrum phase modulation. The results play an important role in the testing and evaluating of the FM-to-AM on the final optics and the target, which is beneficial for comprehensively evaluating the load capacity of the facility and isentropic compression experiment for ICF.

Status and development of high-power laser facilities at the NLHPLP

In this paper, we review the status of the multifunctional experimental platform at the National Laboratory of High Power Laser and Physics(NLHPLP). The platform, including the SG-II laser facility, SG-II 9th beam, SG-II upgrade(SG-II UP) facility, and SG-II 5 PW facility, is operational and available for interested scientists studying inertial confinement fusion(ICF) and a broad range of high-energy-density physics. These facilities can provide important experimental capabilities by combining different pulse widths of nanosecond, picosecond, and femtosecond scales. In addition, the SG-II UP facility, consisting of a single petawatt system and an eight-beam nanosecond system, is introduced including several laser technologies that have been developed to ensure the performance of the facility. Recent developments of the SG-II 5 PW facility are also presented.

Target alignment in the Shen-Guang Ⅱ Upgrade laser facility

The Shen-Guang II Upgrade(SG-Ⅱ-U) laser facility consists of eight high-power nanosecond laser beams and one shortpulse picosecond petawatt laser. It is designed for the study of inertial confinement fusion(ICF), especially for conducting fast ignition(FI) research in China and other basic science experiments. To perform FI successfully with hohlraum targets containing a golden cone, the long-pulse beam and cylindrical hohlraum as well as the short-pulse beam and cone target alignment must satisfy tight specifications(30 and 20 μm rms for each case). To explore new ICF ignition targets with six laser entrance holes(LEHs), a rotation sensor was adapted to meet the requirements of a three-dimensional target and correct beam alignment. In this paper, the strategy for aligning the nanosecond beam based on target alignment sensor(TAS) is introduced and improved to meet requirements of the picosecond lasers and the new six LEHs hohlraum targets in the SG-II-U facility. The expected performance of the alignment system is presented, and the alignment error is also discussed.

Single-shot ultrafast multiplexed coherent diffraction imaging

Classic interferometry was commonly adopted to realize ultrafast phase imaging using pulsed lasers;however, the reference beam required makes the optical structure of the imaging system very complex, and high temporal resolution was reached by sacrificing spatial resolution. This study presents a type of single-shot ultrafast multiplexed coherent diffraction imaging technique to realize ultrafast phase imaging with both high spatial and temporal resolutions using a simple optical setup, and temporal resolution of nanosecond to femtosecond scale can be realized using lasers of different pulse durations. This technique applies a multiplexed algorithm to avoid the data division in space domain or frequency domain and greatly improves the spatial resolution. The advantages of this proposed technique on both the simple optical structure and high image quality were demonstrated by imaging the generation and evaluating the laser-induced damage and accompanying phenomenon of laser filament and shock wave at a spatial resolution better than 6.96 μm and a temporal resolution better than 10 ns.

First radiative shock experiments on the SG-II laser

We report on the design and first results from experiments looking at the formation of radiative shocks on the ShenguangII(SG-II)laser at the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics in China.Laser-heating of a two-layer CH/CH–Br foil drives a∼40 km/s shock inside a gas cell filled with argon at an initial pressure of 1 bar.The use of gas-cell targets with large(several millimetres)lateral and axial extent allows the shock to propagate freely without any wall interactions,and permits a large field of view to image single and colliding counter-propagating shocks with time-resolved,pointprojection X-ray backlighting(∼20µm source size,4.3 keV photon energy).Single shocks were imaged up to 100 ns after the onset of the laser drive,allowing to probe the growth of spatial nonuniformities in the shock apex.These results are compared with experiments looking at counter-propagating shocks,showing a symmetric drive that leads to a collision and stagnation from∼40 ns onward.We present a preliminary comparison with numerical simulations with the radiation hydrodynamics code ARWEN,which provides expected plasma parameters for the design of future experiments in this facility.

Design and performance of final optics assembly in SG-ⅡUpgrade laser facility

In high power laser facility for inertial confinement fusion research, final optics assembly(FOA) plays a critical role in the frequency conversion, beam focusing, color separation, beam sampling and debris shielding. The design and performance of FOA in SG-II Upgrade laser facility are mainly introduced here. Due to the limited space and short focal length, a coaxial aspheric wedged focus lens is designed and applied in the FOA configuration. Then the ghost image analysis,the focus characteristic analysis, the B integral control design and the optomechanical design are carried out in the FOA design phase. In order to ensure the FOA performance, two key technologies are developed including measurement and adjustment technique of the wedged focus lens and the stray light management technique based on ground glass.Experimental results show that the design specifications including laser fluence, frequency conversion efficiency and perforation efficiency of the focus spot have been achieved, which meet the requirements of physical experiments well.