High Power Mid-IR Laser System for ESASE

The Department of Energy seeks the development of advanced laser systems for current- enhanced self-amplified spontaneous emission (ESASE) free-electron lasers for ultra-short x-ray generation. Improvements in the technology will come from the use of driving lasers operating at wavelengths longer than those from Ti:sapphire-based systems. To function, the lasers must achieve the state-of-the-art in short-pulse duration, phase stabilization, and coherence. Current laser systems suffer from complexity due to the use of multiple nonlinear stages to achieve the desired wavelength and have issues with power scaling. Q-Peak proposes to develop a novel, mid-infrared 75-fs pulse, high-pulse-energy, femto- second oscillator regenerative amplifier CPA, hybrid laser system utilizing fiber and solid-state lasers. The high peak power, femtosecond carrier-envelope-phase (CEP)-stabilized output pulses at 2.5 m can be used as driver for ESASE. All the elements of the system proposed are based on technology that has undergone significant development at Q-Peak and continues to be advanced for applications in both Government and commercial systems. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: The proposed laser system will be a new tool for x-ray free-electron laser-based light sources. It will also demonstrate a path to scale the laser system to the TW peak power level. The proposed laser system can also serve as a laser driver for a variety of applications such as envi- ronmental analysis, remote-sensing, spectroscopy, and medicine.