High-Peak-Power Long-Wave Infrared Lasers with CO<sub>2</sub> Amplifiers
Long-wave infrared (LWIR) picosecond pulses with multi-terawatt peak power have recently become available for advanced high-energy physics and material research. Multi-joule pulse energy is achieved in an LWIR laser system via amplification of a microjoule seed pulse with high-pressure, mixed-isotop...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-03-01
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| Series: | Photonics |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/8/4/101 |
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| author | Mikhail N. Polyanskiy Igor V. Pogorelsky Marcus Babzien Rotem Kupfer Navid Vafaei-Najafabadi Mark A. Palmer |
| author_facet | Mikhail N. Polyanskiy Igor V. Pogorelsky Marcus Babzien Rotem Kupfer Navid Vafaei-Najafabadi Mark A. Palmer |
| author_sort | Mikhail N. Polyanskiy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Long-wave infrared (LWIR) picosecond pulses with multi-terawatt peak power have recently become available for advanced high-energy physics and material research. Multi-joule pulse energy is achieved in an LWIR laser system via amplification of a microjoule seed pulse with high-pressure, mixed-isotope CO<inline-formula><math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><msub><mrow></mrow><mn>2</mn></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> amplifiers. A chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) scheme is employed in such a laser to reduce the nonlinear interaction between the optical field and the transmissive elements of the system. Presently, a research and development effort is underway towards an even higher LWIR peak power that is required, for instance, for promising particle acceleration schemes. The required boost of the peak power can be achieved by reducing the pulse duration to fractions of a picosecond. For this purpose, the possibility of reducing the gain narrowing in the laser amplifiers and post-compression techniques are being studied. Another direction in research is aimed at the increased throughput (i.e., repetition rate), efficiency, and reliability of LWIR laser systems. The transition from a traditional electric-discharge pumping to an optical pumping scheme for CO<inline-formula><math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><msub><mrow></mrow><mn>2</mn></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> amplifiers is expected to improve the robustness of high-peak-power LWIR lasers, making them suitable for broad implementation in scientific laboratory, industrial, and clinical environments. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:44:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a82224de2cde41e2924c22313b32a1a5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2304-6732 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T12:44:46Z |
| publishDate | 2021-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Photonics |
| spelling | doaj.art-a82224de2cde41e2924c22313b32a1a52023-11-21T13:37:53ZengMDPI AGPhotonics2304-67322021-03-018410110.3390/photonics8040101High-Peak-Power Long-Wave Infrared Lasers with CO<sub>2</sub> AmplifiersMikhail N. Polyanskiy0Igor V. Pogorelsky1Marcus Babzien2Rotem Kupfer3Navid Vafaei-Najafabadi4Mark A. Palmer5Accelerator Test Facility, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USAAccelerator Test Facility, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USAAccelerator Test Facility, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USAAccelerator Test Facility, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USAAccelerator Test Facility, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USALong-wave infrared (LWIR) picosecond pulses with multi-terawatt peak power have recently become available for advanced high-energy physics and material research. Multi-joule pulse energy is achieved in an LWIR laser system via amplification of a microjoule seed pulse with high-pressure, mixed-isotope CO<inline-formula><math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><msub><mrow></mrow><mn>2</mn></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> amplifiers. A chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) scheme is employed in such a laser to reduce the nonlinear interaction between the optical field and the transmissive elements of the system. Presently, a research and development effort is underway towards an even higher LWIR peak power that is required, for instance, for promising particle acceleration schemes. The required boost of the peak power can be achieved by reducing the pulse duration to fractions of a picosecond. For this purpose, the possibility of reducing the gain narrowing in the laser amplifiers and post-compression techniques are being studied. Another direction in research is aimed at the increased throughput (i.e., repetition rate), efficiency, and reliability of LWIR laser systems. The transition from a traditional electric-discharge pumping to an optical pumping scheme for CO<inline-formula><math display="inline" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><semantics><msub><mrow></mrow><mn>2</mn></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> amplifiers is expected to improve the robustness of high-peak-power LWIR lasers, making them suitable for broad implementation in scientific laboratory, industrial, and clinical environments.https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/8/4/101CO<sub>2</sub> laser amplifierlong-wave infrared laserhigh-peak-power laserultra-short pulses |
| spellingShingle | Mikhail N. Polyanskiy Igor V. Pogorelsky Marcus Babzien Rotem Kupfer Navid Vafaei-Najafabadi Mark A. Palmer High-Peak-Power Long-Wave Infrared Lasers with CO<sub>2</sub> Amplifiers Photonics CO<sub>2</sub> laser amplifier long-wave infrared laser high-peak-power laser ultra-short pulses |
| title | High-Peak-Power Long-Wave Infrared Lasers with CO<sub>2</sub> Amplifiers |
| title_full | High-Peak-Power Long-Wave Infrared Lasers with CO<sub>2</sub> Amplifiers |
| title_fullStr | High-Peak-Power Long-Wave Infrared Lasers with CO<sub>2</sub> Amplifiers |
| title_full_unstemmed | High-Peak-Power Long-Wave Infrared Lasers with CO<sub>2</sub> Amplifiers |
| title_short | High-Peak-Power Long-Wave Infrared Lasers with CO<sub>2</sub> Amplifiers |
| title_sort | high peak power long wave infrared lasers with co sub 2 sub amplifiers |
| topic | CO<sub>2</sub> laser amplifier long-wave infrared laser high-peak-power laser ultra-short pulses |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/8/4/101 |
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