High-contrast high-intensity repetitive petawatt laser

Abstract

We report the generation of 63 J of broadband pulse energies at 0.1 Hz from the J-KAREN-P laser, which is based on an OPCPA/Ti:sapphire hybrid architecture. Pulse compression down to 30 fs indicates a peak power of over 1 PW. High temporal contrast of 10¹² prior to the main pulse has been demonstrated with 10 J output energy. High intensities of 10²² W/cm² on target by focusing a 0.3 PW laser with an f/1.3 off-axis parabolic mirror have been achieved. Fundamental processes of laser matter interaction at over 10²² W/cm² intensities belong to a new branch of science that will be the principal research task of our infrastructure.