Ultrahigh-brightness lasers and their applications
Abstract
New short-pulse laser technology has made possible the production of extremely strong laser fields (I greater than 10(exp 17) W/sq cm) from small scale systems. The use of these new techniques on intermediate to large scale Nd:glass based laser systems makes possible, in principle, the production of 1000 TW (Petawatt) pulses. Such pulses yield focused intensities exceeding 10(exp 21) W/sq cm, corresponding to an electric field in excess of 100 e/a(sub o)(sup 2) and an energy density equivalent to that of a 10 KeV blackbody (3 x 10(exp 10) J/cu cm). Such a source would have important applications in x ray laser research and lead to a fundamentally new class of experiments in atomic, nuclear, plasma and high-energy density physics. Some of the advances which make such laser sources possible have grown naturally out of our laser research in support of the ICF Program. This paper introduces these new techniques and examines some of the specific applications both of Petawatt pulses requiring large systems and more modest 10 TW pulses now achievable with table-top systems.
- Publication:
-
NASA STI/Recon Technical Report N
- Pub Date:
- August 1989
- Bibcode:
- 1989STIN...9014596P
- Keywords:
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- Brightness;
- Glass Lasers;
- Neodymium Lasers;
- Pulsed Lasers;
- X Ray Lasers;
- Dense Plasmas;
- Efficiency;
- Laser Applications;
- Nuclear Physics;
- Lasers and Masers