Optimization of plasma amplifiers

James D. Sadler; Raoul M. G. M. Trines; Max Tabak; Dan Haberberger; Dustin H. Froula; Andrew S. Davies; Sara Bucht; Luís O. Silva; E. Paulo Alves; Frederico Fiúza; Luke Ceurvorst; Naren Ratan; Muhammad F. Kasim; Robert Bingham; Peter A. Norreys

doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.95.053211

Optimization of plasma amplifiers

James D. Sadler, Raoul M. G. M. Trines, Max Tabak, Dan Haberberger, Dustin H. Froula, Andrew S. Davies, Sara Bucht, Luís O. Silva, E. Paulo Alves, Frederico Fiúza, Luke Ceurvorst, Naren Ratan, Muhammad F. Kasim, Robert Bingham, Peter A. Norreys

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Abstract

Plasma amplifiers offer a route to side-step limitations on chirped pulse amplification and generate laser pulses at the power frontier. They compress long pulses by transferring energy to a shorter pulse via the Raman or Brillouin instabilities. We present an extensive kinetic numerical study of the three-dimensional parameter space for the Raman case. Further particle-in-cell simulations find the optimal seed pulse parameters for experimentally relevant constraints. The high-efficiency self-similar behavior is observed only for seeds shorter than the linear Raman growth time. A test case similar to an upcoming experiment at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics is found to maintain good transverse coherence and high-energy efficiency. Effective compression of a 10 kJ , nanosecond-long driver pulse is also demonstrated in a 15-cm-long amplifier.

Original language	English
Article number	053211
Number of pages	6
Journal	Physical Review E
Volume	95
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.95.053211
Publication status	Published - 24 May 2017

Keywords

laser pulses
Raman instability
Brillouin instability
kinetic numerical study
three-dimensional parameter space
particle-in-cell simulations

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10.1103/PhysRevE.95.053211

Sadler-etal-PRE-2017-Optimization-of-plasma-amplifiersAccepted author manuscript, 173 KB

http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/121078/

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title = "Optimization of plasma amplifiers",

abstract = "Plasma amplifiers offer a route to side-step limitations on chirped pulse amplification and generate laser pulses at the power frontier. They compress long pulses by transferring energy to a shorter pulse via the Raman or Brillouin instabilities. We present an extensive kinetic numerical study of the three-dimensional parameter space for the Raman case. Further particle-in-cell simulations find the optimal seed pulse parameters for experimentally relevant constraints. The high-efficiency self-similar behavior is observed only for seeds shorter than the linear Raman growth time. A test case similar to an upcoming experiment at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics is found to maintain good transverse coherence and high-energy efficiency. Effective compression of a 10 kJ , nanosecond-long driver pulse is also demonstrated in a 15-cm-long amplifier.",

keywords = "laser pulses, Raman instability, Brillouin instability, kinetic numerical study, three-dimensional parameter space, particle-in-cell simulations",

author = "Sadler, {James D.} and Trines, {Raoul M. G. M.} and Max Tabak and Dan Haberberger and Froula, {Dustin H.} and Davies, {Andrew S.} and Sara Bucht and Silva, {Lu{\'i}s O.} and Alves, {E. Paulo} and Frederico Fi{\'u}za and Luke Ceurvorst and Naren Ratan and Kasim, {Muhammad F.} and Robert Bingham and Norreys, {Peter A.}",

year = "2017",

month = may,

day = "24",

doi = "10.1103/PhysRevE.95.053211",

language = "English",

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issn = "1539-3755",

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T1 - Optimization of plasma amplifiers

AU - Sadler, James D.

AU - Trines, Raoul M. G. M.

AU - Tabak, Max

AU - Haberberger, Dan

AU - Froula, Dustin H.

AU - Davies, Andrew S.

AU - Bucht, Sara

AU - Silva, Luís O.

AU - Alves, E. Paulo

AU - Fiúza, Frederico

AU - Ceurvorst, Luke

AU - Ratan, Naren

AU - Kasim, Muhammad F.

AU - Bingham, Robert

AU - Norreys, Peter A.

PY - 2017/5/24

Y1 - 2017/5/24

N2 - Plasma amplifiers offer a route to side-step limitations on chirped pulse amplification and generate laser pulses at the power frontier. They compress long pulses by transferring energy to a shorter pulse via the Raman or Brillouin instabilities. We present an extensive kinetic numerical study of the three-dimensional parameter space for the Raman case. Further particle-in-cell simulations find the optimal seed pulse parameters for experimentally relevant constraints. The high-efficiency self-similar behavior is observed only for seeds shorter than the linear Raman growth time. A test case similar to an upcoming experiment at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics is found to maintain good transverse coherence and high-energy efficiency. Effective compression of a 10 kJ , nanosecond-long driver pulse is also demonstrated in a 15-cm-long amplifier.

AB - Plasma amplifiers offer a route to side-step limitations on chirped pulse amplification and generate laser pulses at the power frontier. They compress long pulses by transferring energy to a shorter pulse via the Raman or Brillouin instabilities. We present an extensive kinetic numerical study of the three-dimensional parameter space for the Raman case. Further particle-in-cell simulations find the optimal seed pulse parameters for experimentally relevant constraints. The high-efficiency self-similar behavior is observed only for seeds shorter than the linear Raman growth time. A test case similar to an upcoming experiment at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics is found to maintain good transverse coherence and high-energy efficiency. Effective compression of a 10 kJ , nanosecond-long driver pulse is also demonstrated in a 15-cm-long amplifier.

KW - laser pulses

KW - Raman instability

KW - Brillouin instability

KW - kinetic numerical study

KW - three-dimensional parameter space

KW - particle-in-cell simulations

UR - https://journals.aps.org/pre/

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevE.95.053211

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevE.95.053211

M3 - Article

SN - 1539-3755

VL - 95

JO - Physical Review E

JF - Physical Review E

IS - 5

M1 - 053211

ER -

Optimization of plasma amplifiers

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Keywords

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