Cryo-cooled Yb:YAG Lasers for Advanced Photoinjectors

Advanced, high brightness photoinjectors are required for the next generation of linear accelerators and free electron lasers. Current photoinjector lasers suffer from complexities related to the use of multiple amplifier stages to achieve the desired pulse energy. There are also issues related to power scaling. This project will investigate the use of a liquid nitrogen cooled, Yb:YAG, mode-locked laser as a simpler laser source for photoinjector applications. A liquid nitrogen cooled Yb:YAG laser oscillator can provide an average power of approximately 100 W with a repetition rate of 10s of MHz. Amplification with a single amplifier can provide a time-averaged power of 100s of Watts. Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: A less complex method of generating high-energy picosecond pulses should fulfill an important near-term need as a source used in photoinjector applications for linear accelerators and free electron lasers. Other applications of the basic technology would be in the areas of time-resolved spectroscopy, terahertz generation, and materials processing.