339 J high-energy Ti:sapphire chirped-pulse amplifier for 10 PW laser facility

• DOI: 10.1364/ol.43.005681
• Publication Date: 2018-11-13T20:59:49Z
• Authors: Wenqi Li; Zebiao Gan; Lianghong Yu; Cheng Wang; Yanqi Liu; Zhen Guo; Lu Xu; Min Xu; Yin Hang; Yi Xu; Jianye Wang; Pei Huang; He Cao; Bo Yao; Xiaobo Zhang; Lingru Chen; Yunhai Tang; Shuai Li; Xingyan Liu; Shanming Li; Mingzhu He; Dinjun Yin; Xiaoyan Liang; Yuxin Leng; Ruxin Li; Zhizhan Xu
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy

We report on the laser pulse output of 339 J centered at 800 nm from a chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) Ti:sapphire laser system at the Shanghai Superintense Ultrafast Laser Facility. The experimental results demonstrated that the parasitic lasing as well as the transverse amplified spontaneous emission of the homemade 235-mm-diameter Ti:sapphire final amplifier were suppressed successfully via the temporal dual-pulse pumped scheme and the index-matching liquid cladding technique. The maximum pump-to-signal conversion efficiency of 32.1% was measured for the final amplifier. With a compressor transmission efficiency of 64% and a compressed pulse duration of 21 fs obtained for the sample light at a lower energy level, this laser system could potentially generate a compressed laser pulse with a peak power of 10.3 PW. The experimental results represent significant progress with respect to the CPA laser.