The Diode Pumped Optical Laser for Experiments (DiPOLE) project at the Central Laser Facility aims to develop a scalable, efficient high pulse energy diode pumped laser amplifier system based on cryogenic gas cooled, multi-slab ceramic Yb:YAG technology. We present recent results obtained from a scaled down prototype laser system designed for operation at 10 Hz pulse repetition rate. At 140 K, the system generated 10.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSignificant advances have been made over the last decade to improve the performance, efficiency, and contrast of high peak and average power laser systems, driven by their use in a wide variety of fields, from the industrial to the scientific. As the contrast of the lasers has improved, interactions with contrasts of 10 are now routinely undertaken. At such high contrasts, there is negligible preplasma formation and the ionized surface layer created by subpicosecond-duration pulses typically forms a highly reflective "plasma mirror" capable of reflecting between 70% and 90% of the incident energy.
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