OMEGA EP: High-energy petawatt capability for the OMEGA laser facility

J. H. Kelly, L. J. Waxer, V. Bagnoud, I. A. Begishev, J. Bromage, B. E. Kruschwitz, T. J. Kessler, S. J. Loucks, Drew N. Maywar, R. L. McCrory,

Journal de Physique IV (Proceedings) · 2006 · 122 citations · 0 references

Abstract

OMEGA EP (Extended Performance) is a petawatt-class addition to the existing 30-kJ, 60-beam OMEGA Laser Facility at the University of Rochester. When completed, it will consist of four beamlines, each capable of producing up to 6.5 kJ at 351 nm in a 1 to 10 ns pulse. Two of the beamlines will produce up to 2.6 kJ in a pulse-width range of 1 to 100 ps at 1053 nm using chirped-pulse amplification (CPA). This paper reviews both the OMEGA EP performance objectives and the enabling technologies required to meet these goals.