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Werner-von-Siemens-Str. 15
82140 Olching / Germany

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Laser Optics from LASER COMPONENTS Exhibits the Highest Damage Thresholds

Photonics News No 65

French Petawatt Laser in the U.S. Equipped with German Mirrors


D65-001

World record: the average power of the French laser is lower than the power of an average light bulb. Nevertheless, it holds the world record for power.

This is the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator (BELLA) project. In July of 2012, petawatt pulses were created for the first time that exhibit a power of 1.3*1015 W at a repetition rate of 1 Hz and a pulse duration of 40 fs. This corresponds to an average power of 40 W – a ridiculously small number for a light bulb; however, this is a matter of peak power levels achieved by compressing the average power into extremely short pulses: petawatts! A petawatt is more than the combined capacity of all power plants worldwide.
The expectations of the BELLA laser were high: it was supposed to become the first laser plasma accelerator to produce an electron beam with an energy of 10 GeV.

What sounds easy in theory looks pretty different in its practical implementation: BELLA is a compact particle accelerator. Across a distance of about 1 m, energies of 10 billion electron volts [GeV] can be reached. In comparison, the Stanford linear accelerator requires about 3.2 km to reach a power of 50 GeV.

In “conventional” particle accelerators, modulated electrical fields are used to accelerate charged particles such as protons or electrons. The BELLA laser accelerator, however, uses short laser pulses to separate electrons and ions in plasma in order to create strong electrical fields. These fields travel through the plasma and are used for acceleration.

The BELLA project laser is based on the chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) technique. A dozen synchronized pump laser systems create the input pulse for the CPA. Using optical elements the pulse length is temporally stretched, amplified, and subsequently compressed in order to generate femtosecond pulses of the highest power levels.

In the construction of this laser by the French company Thales, mirrors that were produced in house at LASER COMPONENTS were integrated. Prior to choosing the mirrors, Thales tested different manufacturers. Important aspects in the selection of suitable components included the possible size of the substrates to be coated, the reflection range, and the damage threshold at ps and fs pulses. We provided both our standard e-beam fs coating as well as our high power coating for testing, the latter of which impressed our customer.

Compared to other vendors, our mirrors achieved damage thresholds that were twice or even three times as high. Our standard high power coatings are coatings produced through physical vapor deposition (PVD) using an electron beam evaporation source, also called an e-beam. Another advantage for this project is the fact that, using this technology, we are able to produce large substrates at competitive prices in house.

We are very excited  to have been able to contribute to the success of the BELLA project with our components. With the help of this compact setup, scientists in elementary particle research hope to develop new applications. The use of this high energy laser beam in security technology is very promising. The collimated laser beam can penetrate cargo in a non-destructive way, allowing inspectors to check the contents of packages from a distance.
With minor modifications, the BELLA laser can be used to generate narrow-banded X-ray radiation. In medical applications this could lead to particularly high resolution X-ray images.

Laser Optics according to Your Requirements
We will gladly contribute to the success of your project as well. LASER COMPONENTS manufactures laser optics based on customer specifications, even in small numbers. Depending on the requirements, we employ different coating technologies:

Physical vapor deposition (PVD) is the classic process. Here we have the option of manufacturing special fs as well as high power coatings. Both types of coatings feature the highest damage thresholds possible. The fs coating is only used in fs or cw lasers and excels with very high damage thresholds: an HR coating, for example, can achieve values of 0.5 J/cm² at 150 fs.

Very low-drift coatings, however, are produced using an IAD source. By employing an additional ion source, denser layers can be achieved. This has resulted in coatings that feature a lower drift compared to conventional methods.

We have had an ion beam sputtering (IBS) coater in house since 2010 for complex coatings which achieves even denser layers with a high damage threshold.


Datasheet:

Further product information:
Coated Laser Optics

Contact:

Contact Person:    Barbara Herdt
Company:    Laser Components Germany GmbH
Address:    Werner-von-Siemens-Str. 15
ZIP / City:    82140 Olching
Phone:    +49 (0) 8142 2864-41
Fax:    +49 (0) 8142 2864-11
Email:    barbara.herdt@lasercomponents.com
 

Photo Roy Kaltschmidt, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Picture: Roy Kaltschmidt, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

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