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DIRECTED
ENERGY
PROFESSIONAL
SOCIETY
Abstract: 25-Symp-070
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UNCLASSIFIED, PUBLIC RELEASE
Ultrafast parametric laser source operating in long-wave infrared for strong-field physics research
Ultrashort-pulse lasers (USPLs) enable a wide range of applications in remote sensing, laser wakefield accelerations and directed energy. The underlying physical effects for many of those applications scale favorably with the laser wavelength and can benefit from using optical sources operating in the long-wave infrared (LWIR) spectral range. Yet to-date, most of the investigations in strong-field laser-matter interactions utilized high-power USPLs operating in the relatively narrow wavelength range in the near-infrared. Developments of new nonlinear optical materials and optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) technology enable efficient conversion of readily available near-infrared laser sources to longer wavelengths favored by applications. We will report on the status of the construction of a high-peak-power LWIR OPCPA system at the University of Arizona. Currently, the source generates millijoule-level pulses at 8.2 µm center wavelength and with the bandwidth supporting 100 fs pulse duration. We anticipate that by straightforward improvements and optimization of the existing system the output pulse energy will be increased five-to-tenfold, corresponding to the peak power of compressed pulses in the range of several tens of GW. Routes for the future peak-power scaling into the TW range will be also discussed.
This work was supported by the US Office of Naval Research under the award No. N00014-21-1-2469 and by the US Joint Directed Energy Transition Office (JDETO). JB acknowledges the support from SMART scholarship and from the DEPS scholarship grant.
UNCLASSIFIED, PUBLIC RELEASE
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