Full-scale optic designed for onsite study of damage growth at the Laser MegaJoule facility.

Large fusion scale laser facilities aim at delivering megajoules laser energy in the UV spectrum and nanosecond regime. Due to the extreme laser energies, the laser damage of final optics of such beamlines is an important issue that must be addressed. Once a damage site initiates, it grows at each laser shot which decreases the quality of the optical component and spoil laser performances.

Large optics metrology for high-power lasers.

The Laser MégaJoule (LMJ) is a high-power laser dedicated to laser-plasma experiments. At the beginning of the project in the mid-1990s, an optical metrology laboratory was created at CEA to help accomplish all the steps in the construction of this laser. This paper proposes an overview of the capabilities of this metrology laboratory in four main fields: surface imperfections, photometry, laser damage measurement, and wavefront measurement.