title: Split-aperture laser pulse compressor design tolerant to alignment and line-density differences.
abstract: We introduce a four-pass laser pulse compressor design based on two grating apertures with two gratings per aperture that is tolerant to some alignment errors and, importantly, to grating-to-grating period variations. Each half-beam samples each grating in a diamond-shaped compressor that is symmetric about a central bisecting plane. For any given grating, the two half-beams impinge on opposite sides of its surface normal. It is shown that the two split beams have no pointing difference from paired gratings with different periods. Furthermore, no phase shift between half-beams is incurred as long as the planes containing a grating line and the surface normal for each grating of the pair are parallel. For grating pairs satisfying this condition, gratings surfaces need not be on the same plane, as changes in the gap between the two can compensate to bring the beams back in phase.
authors: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550-9234, USA. rushford1@llnl.gov
authors: Michael C
authors: MC
authors: Rushford
authors: Jerald A
authors: JA
authors: Britten
authors: Christopher P J
authors: CP
authors: Barty
authors: Takahisa
authors: T
authors: Jitsuno
authors: Kiminori
authors: K
authors: Kondo
authors: Noriaki
authors: N
authors: Miyanaga
authors: Kazuo A
authors: KA
authors: Tanaka
authors: Ryosuke
authors: R
authors: Kodama
authors: Guang
authors: G
authors: Xu