Proposed beatwave experiment at RAL with the Vulcan CPA laser

A chirped pulse amplification (CPA) laser configuration capable of driving a plasma beat wave into saturation before modulation instabilities can grow is reported. The proposal is based on generating a single sub-ps, broad bandwidth pulse (/spl sim/16 nm) and stretching and filtering to select two w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on plasma science 2000-08, Vol.28 (4), p.1116-1121
Main Authors: Neely, D., Collier, J.L., Allott, R., Danson, C.N., Hawkes, S., Najmudin, Z., Kingham, R.J., Krushelnick, K., Dangor, A.E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amplification
Bandwidth
Chirp modulation
Compressed
Electrons
Experiments
Filtering
Gases
Gratings (spectra)
Instability
Lasers
Modulation
Optical pulse generation
Optical pulses
Particle accelerators
Particle physics
Plasma
Plasma waves
Proposals
Pulse amplifiers
Pulse compression methods
Pulse modulation
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Description
Summary:A chirped pulse amplification (CPA) laser configuration capable of driving a plasma beat wave into saturation before modulation instabilities can grow is reported. The proposal is based on generating a single sub-ps, broad bandwidth pulse (/spl sim/16 nm) and stretching and filtering to select two wavelength components (separation /spl sim/7 nm). The two spectral components are temporally stretched (to >100 ps) and separated (by /spl sim/1 ns). The pulses are then amplified sequentially in a single Nd:glass chain to greater than 15 J per pulse. Using a single-pass reflective grating compressor, the pulses are compressed (from 2 to 5 ps) and automatically synchronized. The system is capable of introducing a chirp, such that the compressed pulses can compensate for relativistic detuning of the plasma wave. The optimum laser amplification and recombination configuration for generating a saturated laser-driven beatwave is presented, and options for future work are discussed.
ISSN:0093-3813
1939-9375
DOI:10.1109/27.893297