Plasma optics for intense laser amplification

Kenan Qu; Nathaniel J. Fisch

doi:10.1117/12.2521082

24 April 2019 Plasma optics for intense laser amplification

Kenan Qu, Nathaniel J. Fisch

Proceedings Volume 11036, Relativistic Plasma Waves and Particle Beams as Coherent and Incoherent Radiation Sources III; 1103602 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2521082
Event: SPIE Optics + Optoelectronics, 2019, Prague, Czech Republic

Abstract

Laser amplification through plasma-based techniques might overcome the thermal damage limit of conventional materials, thereby enabling the next generation of laser intensities. The leading plasma-based method is Raman compression: a long laser pump decays into a plasma wave and a counterpropagating short laser seed pulse, which, capturing the pump energy, reaches extreme intensities. The technological requirements on the seed are severe: it must be very sharp and matched properly in frequency. To sharpen the seed pulse, we propose a laser-controlled, super-fast plasma shutter technique, analogous to electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in atoms. We further show that the laser seed may even be replaced by a stationary plasma wave seed. In the important pump-depletion regime, the plasma-wave initiated output pulse approaches the self-similar attractor solution for the corresponding laser seed, with the frequency match automatic. These techniques also work with partially coherent pumps. Actually, a partially coherent pump can even advantageously suppress the noise-seeded spontaneous Raman amplification which is responsible for premature pump depletion.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Kenan Qu and Nathaniel J. Fisch "Plasma optics for intense laser amplification", Proc. SPIE 11036, Relativistic Plasma Waves and Particle Beams as Coherent and Incoherent Radiation Sources III, 1103602 (24 April 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2521082

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