Demonstration of coherent addition of multiple gratings for high-energy chirped-pulse-amplified lasers.
Petawatt solid-state lasers require meter-sized gratings to reach multiple-kilojoule energy levels without laser-induced damage. As an alternative to large single gratings, we demonstrate that smaller, coherently added (tiled) gratings can be used for subpicosecond-pulse compression. A Fourier-transform-limited, 650-fs chirped-pulse-amplified laser pulse is maintained by replacing a single compression grating with a tiled-grating assembly. Grating tiling provides a means to scale the energy and irradiance of short-pulse lasers.
Kessler
Terrance J
TJ
Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA. jude@lle.rochester.edu
Bunkenburg
Joachim
J
Huang
Hu
H
Kozlov
Alexei
A
Meyerhofer
David D
DD