Rapid growth processing of KDP crystals was improved by employing continuous filtration to eliminate bulk defects. The performances of the KDP crystals, including scattering defects, laser damage resistance and transmittance, were

We deduce a complete wave propagation equation that includes inhomogeneity of the dielectric constant and present this propagation equation in compact vector form. Although similar equations are known in narrow fields such as radi

Recently there has been great progress in laser-driven plasma-based accelerators by exploiting high-power lasers, where electron beams can be accelerated to multi-GeV energy in a centimeter-scale plasma due to the laser wakefield

Thermal stress can induce birefringence in a laser medium, which can cause depolarization of the laser. The depolarization effect will be very severe in a high-average-power laser. Because the depolarization will make the frequenc

This article describes the fabrication of a suite of laser targets by the Target Fabrication group in the Central Laser Facility (CLF), STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory for the first academic-access experiment on the Orion lase

The Shenguang-II Upgrade (SG-II Up) facility is an under-construction high-power laser driver with eight beams, 24 kJ energy, 3 ns pulse duration and ultraviolet laser output, in the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics

The role of the coronal electron plasma temperature for shock-ignition conditions is analysed with respect to the dominant parametric processes: stimulated Brillouin scattering, stimulated Raman scattering, two-plasmon decay (TPD)

In high-power laser systems (HPLSs), understanding debris-removal trajectories is important in eliminating debris from the surfaces of transport mirrors online and keeping other optical components free from contamination. NS equat

As our understanding of the environmental impact of fossil fuel based energy production increases, it is becoming clear that the world needs a new energy solution to meet the challenges of the future. A transformation is required

The work presented in this paper is a study of output temporal contrast degradation by near-field quality deterioration, such as intensity modulation and wavefront deviation, in a large aperture high power short pulse laser system

The dispersion of a pair of prisms is analyzed by means of a ray-tracing method operating at other than tip-to-tip propagation of the prisms, taking into consideration the limited spectral bandwidth. The variations of the group de

A numerical method providing the optimal laser intensity profiles for a direct-drive inertial confinement fusion scheme has been developed. The method provides an alternative approach to phase-space optimization studies, which can

We propose a general methodology to define the optimum doping ion volume distribution required for an efficient solid-state laser amplifier. This approach is illustrated in the context of two experimental diode pumped Yb:YAG ampli

The energy transfer by stimulated Brillouin backscatter from a long pump pulse (15 ps) to a short seed pulse (1 ps) has been investigated in a proof-of-principle demonstration experiment. The two pulses were both amplified in diff

High harmonic generation in gas jets was investigated in different gases up to more than 14 bar backing pressure. The observation of increase of harmonic intensity with increasing pressure and laser intensity shows evidence of the

Cerenkov wake amplification can be used as an accelerating scheme, in which a trigger bunch of electrons propagating inside a cylindrical waveguide filled with an active medium generates an initial wake field. Due to the multiple

The high repetition rate 10 J/10 ns Yb:YAG laser system and its key techniques are reported. The amplifiers in this system have a multi-pass V-shape structure and the heat in the amplifiers is removed by means of laminar water flo

A preliminary investigation on short-wavelength ablation mechanisms of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly (1,4-phenylene ether ether-sulfone) (PPEES) by extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation at 13.5 nm using a table-top laser

We present the first steps of a design of the optimal parameters for a full Bragg X-Ray free electron laser (BX-FEL). Aiming towards a future source of coherent X-ray radiation, operating in the strong Compton regime, we envisage

The laser system PALS, as a driver of a broad-beam ion source, delivered deuterons which generated neutrons with energies higher than 14 MeV through the 7Li(d, n)8Be reaction. Deuterons with sub-MeV energy were accelerated from th

A diode-pumped master oscillator power amplifier system based on a cryogenic Yb:YAG active-mirror laser has been developed. The performances of the laser amplifier at low temperature and room temperature have been investigated the

We present a 940 nm quasi-continuous wave semiconductor laser designed as a building block for high-power fiber coupled pump modules. The laser comprises a 400 μm narrow-stripe array mounted on an aluminum nitride substrate using

The chemical oxygen–iodine laser (COIL) is the shortest-wavelength high-power chemical laser that has been demonstrated. The characteristics, such as good atmospheric propagation, short wavelength and excellent transmission throug

An accelerated micro-foil is used to ignite a pre-compressed cylindrical shell containing deuterium–tritium fuel. The well-known shock wave ignition criterion and a novel criterion based on heat wave ignition are developed in this