Key Components for the implementation of high repetition rate Petawatt-class lasers

XUV Lasers, in collaboration with Colorado State University, proposes to develop and commercialize key components for the implementation of ultra-intense laser systems operating at greatly increased repetition rates. Ultra-high power, ultrashort pulse lasers systems are the central tool driving many of the recent advances in high energy density plasma science. They enable the generation of high energy density relativistic plasmas, bright X-ray and gamma–ray burst, energetics particle beams and neutrons, and drive applications such as backlighting of inertial confinement fusion pellets, and to explore non-conventional fusion energy schemes. However, all ultrahigh power lasers are presently limited to low repetition rates (< 10Hz). During Phase II we extended the operation of Yb:YAG cryocooled amplifiers to the highest energy achieved at high repetition rates to date: 2 J at 200 Hz. We also demonstrated the generation of ?=515 nm nanosecond laser pulses of ~ 1 J energy at 1 kHz repetition rate. Finally, we also used a fraction of this green output to pump a Ti:Sa amplifier that produced 110 mJ pulses at 330 Hz repetition rate, a record pulse energy for Ti:Sa amplifiers operating at this high repetition rate. In Phase IIA we propose to further scale these diode-pumped efficiently frequency doubled amplifiers to multi-Joule, and to employ them to pump a Joule-level Ti:Sa amplifier. The modular aspect of the pump laser will allow for. The commercialization of high repetition rate ultra-intense laser amplifiers will have transformative potential in both fundamental science and technology. The ability to gather data at high repetition rates can transform the fields of high energy density science and ultra-high filed physics in which experiments are typically limited to a relatively low number of events and poor statistics. High repetition rate lasers will open the possibility of exploring broad parameter spaces and reducing measurement uncertainties, resulting in high quality data that can serve to benchmark and improve simulations. The commercial availability of high repetition rate lasers can also help to greatly extend the capability of mid-scale high intensity laser facilities, such as those that are part the LaserNetUS, a users’ network of high-power lasers created by DOE to serve the broad scientific community.