Orion: a commissioned user facility

P. A. Treadwell; P. Allan; N. Cann; C. Danson; S. Duffield; S. Elsmere; R. Edwards; D. Egan; M. Girling; E. Gumbrell; E. Harvey; M. Hill; D. Hillier; D. Hoarty; L. Hobbs; N. Hopps; D. Hussey; K. Oades; S. James; M. Norman; J. Palmer; S. Parker; D. Winter; T. Bett

doi:10.1117/12.2015376

7 May 2013 Orion: a commissioned user facility

P. A. Treadwell, P. Allan, N. Cann, C. Danson, S. Duffield, S. Elsmere, R. Edwards, D. Egan, M. Girling, E. Gumbrell, E. Harvey, M. Hill, D. Hillier, D. Hoarty, L. Hobbs, N. Hopps, D. Hussey, K. Oades, S. James, M. Norman, J. Palmer, S. Parker, D. Winter, T. Bett

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Proceedings Volume 8780, High-Power, High-Energy, and High-Intensity Laser Technology; and Research Using Extreme Light: Entering New Frontiers with Petawatt-Class Lasers; 878002 (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2015376
Event: SPIE Optics + Optoelectronics, 2013, Prague, Czech Republic

Abstract

The Orion Laser Facility at AWE in the UK consists of ten nanosecond beamlines and two sub-picosecond beamlines. The nanosecond beamlines each nominally deliver 500 J at 351 nm in a 1 ns square temporal profile, but can also deliver a user-definable temporal profile with durations between 0.1 ns and 5 ns. The sub-picosecond beamlines each nominally deliver 500 J at 1053 nm in a 500 fs pulse, with a peak irradiance of greater than 10²¹ W/cm². One of the sub-picosecond beamlines can also be frequency-converted to deliver 100 J at 527 nm in a 500 fs pulse, although this is at half the aperture of the 1053 nm beam. Commissioning of all twelve beamlines has been completed, including the 527 nm sub-picosecond option. An overview of the design of the Orion beamlines will be presented, along with a summary of the commissioning and subsequent performance data. The design of Orion was underwritten by running various computer simulations of the beamlines. Work is now underway to validate these simulations against real system data, with the aim of creating predictive models of beamline performance. These predictive models will enable the user’s experimental requirements to be critically assessed ahead of time, and will ultimately be used to determine key system settings and parameters. The facility is now conducting high energy density physics experiments. A capability experiment has already been conducted that demonstrates that Orion can generate plasmas at several million Kelvin and several times solid density. From March 2013 15% of the facility operating time will be given over to external academic users in addition to collaborative experiments with AWE scientists.

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P. A. Treadwell, P. Allan, N. Cann, C. Danson, S. Duffield, S. Elsmere, R. Edwards, D. Egan, M. Girling, E. Gumbrell, E. Harvey, M. Hill, D. Hillier, D. Hoarty, L. Hobbs, N. Hopps, D. Hussey, K. Oades, S. James, M. Norman, J. Palmer, S. Parker, D. Winter, and T. Bett "Orion: a commissioned user facility", Proc. SPIE 8780, High-Power, High-Energy, and High-Intensity Laser Technology; and Research Using Extreme Light: Entering New Frontiers with Petawatt-Class Lasers, 878002 (7 May 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2015376

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