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A new method for generating ultraintense and ultrashort laser pulses

Nature Physics volume 3, pages 732–736 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

The output power of any laser system is limited by the power that any of its individual components can withstand without being destroyed. This increases the size, complexity and cost of next-generation lasers built using conventional optical-gain media. But by using a plasma, which is impervious to optical damage, as the gain medium, such limitations could be significantly surpassed. Here, we report the use of stimulated Raman backscattering in a millimetre-scale plasma to simultaneously amplify and compress an input pulse to increase its intensity by more than two orders of magnitude. Further amplification and compression of such a pulse was achieved by passing it twice through our system, an approach that could be readily extended in future with a cavity-like multipass design. Such an approach could enable the construction of a new generation of compact, low-cost ultrahigh-intensity laser systems.

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Figure 1: The SRBS-amplification plasma-medium density distribution profile.
Figure 2: Output energy under different pumping and seeding conditions.
Figure 3: Spectrum broadening and pulse compression of the seed in SRBS.
Figure 4: Seed beam profile before and after amplification.
Figure 5: Schematic diagram of the experimental set-up.
Figure 6: The amplified output energy from the first and second passes.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to A. Morozov for his great help with setting up Ti/sapphire lasers and his advice on multiple occasions about the optical systems applied in the experiments, J. Kim for improving our algorithm for interferometry and N. Tkach for keeping all of the electronic systems ‘alive’, particularly the high-precision timers. We would also like to thank N. Fisch and J. Wurtele for a number of stimulating discussions.

This work was supported by NSF-MRI(ECS-0521037), DOE-NNSA and DOE(DE-FG02) grants.

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  1. Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA

    Jun Ren, Weifeng Cheng, Shuanglei Li & Szymon Suckewer

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  1. Jun Ren
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Correspondence to Szymon Suckewer.

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Ren, J., Cheng, W., Li, S. et al. A new method for generating ultraintense and ultrashort laser pulses. Nature Phys 3, 732–736 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys717

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