High-power short-pulse laser repetition rate improvement by adaptive wave front correction

Abstract

Dynamic wave front correction is applied before each shot on a 100 TW, 30 J/300 fs high power laser facility using an adaptive optics system. This system allows one to increase the repetition rate of high-energy lasers while maintaining excellent and constant beam focusability with a Strehl ratio >0.75 despite the amplifiers not being in thermal equilibrium. Best results in terms of highest Strehl ratio and intensities are obtained when locking the system on wave front sensing after pulse recompression.