title: Wave-front control of a large-aperture laser system by use of a static phase corrector.
abstract: In large-aperture, ultrahigh-intensity laser systems, such as Vulcan at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, one of the most important factors that determines the ultimate on-target focused intensity is the wave-front quality of the laser pulse. We report on a wave-front analysis carried out on Vulcan to determine the nature and contribution of the aberrations present in the laser pulse that effectively limited the available on-target intensity. We also report on a significant improvement to the wave-front quality that was achieved by static correction of the main aberration, resulting in an increase of focused intensities by a factor of 4.
authors.affiliation: Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Central Laboratory of the Research Councils, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0QX, UK. c.hernandez-gomez@rl.ac.uk
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hernandez-Gomez
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Collier
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Hawkes
authors.forename: C N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Danson
authors.forename: C B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Pepler
authors.forename: I N
authors.initials: IN
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: T B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Winstone