Extreme Power: Shattering the 10-Petawatt Limit With New Laser Amplification
Tiled titanium:sapphire laser amplification promises to enhance the experimental capability of ultra-intense ultrashort lasers for strong-field laser physics.
Evolution of Laser Power and Technology
Over the years, there has been a significant increase in peak laser power. This increase can be attributed to advancements in laser technology. In the past, the peak laser power was limited to 1 petawatt, but with the shift in gain medium to titanium:sapphire crystal, the limit has been raised to 10 petawatts. This shift has also resulted in a reduction in pulse duration, making high-energy lasers more efficient.
The increase in laser power has had a profound impact on various fields, including basic physics, national security, industry, and healthcare. It has become an invaluable tool for researching strong-field laser physics and has opened up new possibilities in laser-driven radiation sources, laser particle acceleration, and vacuum quantum electrodynamics.
Limitations and Innovations in Laser Technology
Despite the advancements in laser technology, there are still limitations when it comes to titanium:sapphire ultra-intense ultrashort lasers. Currently, the upper limit for these lasers is 10 petawatts. To overcome this limitation, researchers have turned to optical parametric chirped pulse amplification technology. However, this technology presents its own challenges in terms of efficiency and stability.
On the other hand, the titanium:sapphire chirped pulse amplification technology, which has successfully realized two 10-petawatt lasers in China and Europe, still holds great potential for further development. It is a mature technology that offers high conversion efficiencies, stable energies, broadband spectra, short pulses, and small focal spots.
Challenges With Titanium:Sapphire Crystals
One of the challenges with titanium:sapphire crystals is transverse parasitic lasing. This occurs when an amplified spontaneous emission noise consumes the stored energy and reduces the signal laser amplification. Currently, the maximum aperture of titanium:sapphire crystals can only support 10-petawatt lasers.
To overcome this limitation, researchers have developed an innovative solution. By coherently tiling multiple titanium:sapphire crystals together, they have been able to increase the aperture diameter and prevent transverse parasitic lasing within each crystal. This breakthrough has the potential to surpass the current 10-petawatt limit and enhance the experimental capability of ultra-intense ultrashort lasers.
Innovative Solutions and Future Potential
The coherently tiled titanium:sapphire laser amplification has already shown promising results. In a 100-terawatt laser system, near-ideal laser amplification was achieved with high conversion efficiencies, stable energies, broadband spectra, short pulses, and small focal spots.
The implications of this technology are significant. By integrating a coherently tiled titanium:sapphire high-energy laser amplifier into existing systems, such as China's SULF or EU's ELI-NP, the current 10-petawatt limit can be further increased to 40 petawatts. This would result in a significant increase in focused peak intensity and open up new possibilities in strong-field laser physics.
