0.5-PW 45-fs OPCPA laser system

• Published in: 2007 European Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics and the International Quantum Electronics Conference p. 1
• Main Authors: Yakovlev, I.V., Freidman, G.I., Ginzburg, V.N., Katin, E.V., Khazanov, E.A., Kirsanov, A.V., Lozhkarev, V.V., Luchinin, G.A., Mal'shakov, A.N., Martyanov, M.A., Palashov, O.V., Poteomkin, A.K., Sergeev, A.M., Shaykin, A.A.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01-06-2007
• Subjects: Chirp; Laser stability; Nonlinear optics; Optical control; Optical pulse generation; Optical pulses; Power lasers; Power system reliability; Pulse amplifiers; Stimulated emission
• ISBN: 9781424409303; 1424409306
• DOI: 10.1109/CLEOE-IQEC.2007.4386372

This paper presents a 0.5-PW 45-fs laser system based on optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (OPCPA). The 0.56 PW peak power has been achieved experimentally using an upgraded setup. The laser system is very compact, very stable, reliable and easy controllable. It takes a couple of hours for fine alignment and after that the laser generates half-petawatt peak power level pulses each 30 minutes during whole day. To the authors' knowledge, the presented laser is most powerful laser based on OPCPA and one of the five most powerful lasers all over the world.