An accurate and stable method of array element tiling for high-power laser facilities

Due to laser-induced damage, the aperture of optics is one of the main factors limiting the output capability of highpower laser facilities. Because of the general difficulty in achieving large-aperture optics, an alternative solution is to tile some small-aperture ones together. We propose an accurate, stable, and automatic method of array element tiling and verify it on a double-pass 1 × 2 tiled-grating compressor in the XG-III laser facility. The test results show the accuracy and stability of the method. This research provides an efficient way to obtain large-aperture optics for 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.

Large aperture N31 neodymium phosphate laser glass for use in a high power laser facility

Large aperture Nd:phosphate laser glass is a key optical element for an inertial confinement fusion(ICF) facility. N31,one type of neodymium doped phosphate glasses, was developed for high peak power laser facility applications in China. The composition and main properties of N31 glass are given, together with those of LHG-8, LG-770, and KGSS-0180 Nd:phosphate laser glasses, from Hoya and Schott, and from Russia. The technologies of pot melting, continuous melting, and edge cladding of large size N31 phosphate laser glass are briefly described. The small signal gain profiles of N31 glass slabs from both pot melting and continuous melting at various values of the pumping energy of the xenon lamp are presented. N31 glass is characterized by a stimulated emission cross section of 3.8 × 10-20cm2 at 1053 nm,an absorption coefficient of 0.10–0.15% cm-1at laser wavelength, small residual stress around the interface between the cladding glass and the laser glass, optical homogeneity of ～2 × 10-6in a 400 mm aperture, and laser damage threshold larger than 42 J/cm2 for a 3 ns pulse width at 1064 nm wavelength.

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.

Analysis of mid-spatial frequency wavefront distortions from a liquid-cooled flash-lamp pumped Nd:phosphate laser amplifier

Mid-spatial frequency wavefront deformation can be deleterious for the operation of high-energy laser systems. When fluid cooled high-repetition-rate amplifiers are used, the coolant flow is likely to induce such detrimental mid-spatial frequency wavefront deformations. Here, we describe the design and performance of a 90 mm × 90 mm aperture, liquid-cooled Nd:phosphate split-slab laser amplifier pumped by flash-lamps. The performance of the system is evaluated in terms of wavefront aberration and gain at repetition rates down to 1 shot per minute. The results show that this single cooled split-slab system exhibits low wavefront distortions in the medium to large period range, compatible with a focus on target, and despite the use of liquid coolant traversed by both pump and amplified wavelengths. This makes it a potential candidate for applications in large high-energy laser facilities.

Design,installation and commissioning of the ELI-Beamlines high-power,high-repetition rate HAPLS laser beam transport system to P3

The design and the early commissioning of the ELI-Beamlines laser facility’s 30 J,30 fs,10 Hz HAPLS(High-repetitionrate Advanced Petawatt Laser System)beam transport(BT)system to the P3 target chamber are described in detail.It is the world’s first and with 54 m length,the longest distance high average power petawatt(PW)BT system ever built.It connects the HAPLS pulse compressor via the injector periscope with the 4.5 m diameter P3 target chamber of the plasma physics group in hall E3.It is the largest target chamber of the facility and was connected first to the BT system.The major engineering challenges are the required high vibration stability mirror support structures,the high pointing stability optomechanics as well as the required levels for chemical and particle cleanliness of the vacuum vessels to preserve the high laser damage threshold of the dielectrically coated high-power mirrors.A first commissioning experiment at low pulse energy shows the full functionality of the BT system to P3 and the novel experimental infrastructure.

用混合玻璃配置提高激光装置输出能力的研究

在分析几种激光基质材料的光谱和激光特性的基础上,提出了在功率受限型激光装置的主放大级中混合使用高增益激光玻璃和低非线性折射率n2玻璃的新思路,以期在降低n2的基础上提高激光装置的系统输出能力。采用光传输程序模拟计算的结果表明,主放大器前级用磷酸盐玻璃,后级换用低n2的氟磷酸盐玻璃的混合配置,可以有效地减小级间B积分条件对系统输出能力的约束,系统的最大能量输出有近百分之十几的增长。

Research and development of new neodymium laser glasses

This work presents a brief introduction on three kinds of newly developed Nd^(3+)-doped laser glasses in Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics(SIOM), China. Two Nd^(3+)-doped phosphate glasses with lower thermal expansion coefficient and thermal shock resistance 4 times higher than that of N31 glass are developed for laser processing.Nd:Silicate and Nd:Aluminate glasses with peak emission wavelength at 1061 and 1065 nm, effective emission bandwidth of 34 and 50 nm, respectively, are developed for Exawatt-class laser system application. Fluorophosphate glasses with low nonlinear refractive index(n_2=0.6–0.86) and long fluorescence lifetime(430–510 μs) are investigated for the purpose of decreasing B integral in high-power laser system. The properties of all these glasses are presented and compared with those of commercial neodymium laser glasses.

Suppression of amplitude modulation induced by polarization mode dispersion using a multi-degree-of-freedom fiber filter

Polarization mode dispersion(PMD) in fibers for high-power lasers can induce significant frequency modulation to amplitude modulation(FM-to-AM) conversion. However, existing techniques are not sufficiently flexible to achieve efficient compensation for such FM-to-AM conversion. By analyzing the nonuniform transmission spectrum caused by PMD, we found that the large-scale envelope of the transmission spectrum has more serious impacts on the amount of AM. In order to suppress the PMD-induced FM-to-AM conversion, we propose a novel tunable spectral filter with multiple degrees of freedom based on a half-wave plate, a nematic liquid crystal, and an axis-rotated polarizationmaintaining fiber. Peak wavelength, free spectral range(FSR), and modulation depth of the filter are decoupled and can be controlled independently, which is verified through both simulations and experiments. The filter is utilized to compensate for the PMD-induced FM-to-AM conversion in the front end of a high-power laser facility. The results indicate that, for a pulse with phase-modulation frequency of 22.82 GHz, the FM-to-AM conversion could be reduced from 18% to 3.2% within a short time and maintained below 6.5% for 3 h. The proposed filter is also promising for other applications that require flexible spectral control such as high-speed channel selection in optical communication networks.