High intensity, high beam quality laser pulses with a double CPA, OPCPA/Ti:sapphire laser system for studying relativistic light-matter interactions

Kiriyama, Hiromitsu; Mori, Michiaki; Nakai, Yoshiki; Shimomura, Takuya; Tanoue, Manabu*; Okada, Hajime; Kondo, Shuji; Kanazawa, Shuhei; Sagisaka, Akito; Daito, Izuru; Kotaki, Hideyuki; Sasao, Hajime; Wakai, Daisuke*; Tanaka, Momoko; Ochi, Yoshihiro; Suzuki, Masayuki; Sugiyama, Akira; Daido, Hiroyuki; Bulanov, S. V.; Koike, Masato; Bolton, P. R.; Kawanishi, Shunichi

We demonstrated laser peak intensity above 10W/cm and temporal contrast exceeding 10 at a 10 Hz repetition rate with a 60 TW, 30 fs laser (J-KAREN laser). Here we report the upgrade of the J-KAREN laser to the petawatt peak power level. This is accomplished by adding a Ti:sapphire booster amplifier downstream of the final amplifier chain of the 60 TW J-KAREN laser system. Stretched pulses of energy 3 J from the previous J-KAREN laser are up-collimated and introduced into the final booster amplifier. The booster amplifier consists of a large-aperture Ti:sapphire crystal pumped by a frequency-doubled Nd:silicate glass laser with pulse energy 60 J. Diffractive optical elements are used for pump beam homogenization to maintain a uniform spatial profile and reliable, damage-free operation. The system produces an uncompressed output pulse energy exceeding 30 J with a near homogeneous flat-top spatial distribution, indicating potential peak power of 500 TW.