2??m-5??m Mid-IR Laser System

In the last decades, there has been a concerted effort to find alternate acceleration mechanisms that can provide very high gradients. Such mechanisms could also be employed to build compact, inexpensive, and powerful accelerators; which could be used in a verity of fields from university research and medical industry to defense and security applications. Those mechanisms are often based on either dielectric laser acceleration or laser wakefield acceleration techniques; which would greatly benefit from mid-IR (2-5) ultrafast high peak power laser systems. There are a number of commercially available ultrafast high peak power laser systems but they operate in near-IR/visible range. On the other hand, there exist mid-IR lasers but they are not nearly as fast as it is required. A reliable ultrafast mid-IR laser system could have broad application in medicine, research, defense, security, material science and spectroscopy. The approach of this proposed project is to design a novel Mid-IR Laser System (MIRLS) based on optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA). OPCPA is a technique ideally suited for production of ultrashort laser pulses at the center wavelength of 2-5 m. Some of the key features of OPCPA are the wavelength agility, broad spectral bandwidth and negligible thermal load. In the Phase I project, the MIRLS will be designed and simulated. The goal will be to prepare for Phase II, in which we will build the system prototype, and test it in an accelerator facility.Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: If the project is successful, the MIRLS could be employed at a number of accelerator facilities such as SLAC. In addition, there are a number of promising commercial applications, such as medical and bio companies. The MIRLS technique is also attractive for use in a number of applications that require mid-IR laser sources, such as advanced gas spectroscopy and material science as well as defense industry and security.