Abstract
With increasing laser peak power, the generation and manipulation of high-power laser pulses become a growing challenge for conventional solid-state optics due to their limited damage threshold. As a result, plasma-based optical components that can sustain extremely high fields are attracting increasing interest. Here, we propose a type of plasma waveplate based on magneto-optical birefringence under a transverse magnetic field, which can work under extremely high laser power. Importantly, this waveplate can simultaneously alter the polarization state and boost the peak laser power. It is demonstrated numerically that an initially linearly polarized laser pulse with 5 petawatt peak power can be converted into a circularly polarized pulse with a peak power higher than 10 petawatts by such a waveplate with a centimeter-scale diameter. The energy conversion efficiency of the polarization transformation is about 98%. The necessary waveplate thickness is shown to scale inversely with plasma electron density n e and the square of magnetic field B 0, and it is about 1 cm for n e = 3 × 10 20 cm −3 and B 0 = 100 T. The proposed plasma waveplate and other plasma-based optical components can play a critical role for the effective utilization of multi-petawatt laser systems.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 19319-19330 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Optics Express |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue number | 14 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 26 Jun 2019 |
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Keywords
- polarization transformation
- amplification
- laser pulses
- magnetized plasmas
- solid-state optics
- plasma devices
Cite this
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Simultaneous polarization transformation and amplification of multi-petawatt laser pulses in magnetized plasmas. / Zheng, Xiaolong; Weng, Suming; Zhang, Zhe; Ma, Hanghang; Chen, Min; McKenna, Paul; Sheng, Zheng-Ming.
In: Optics Express, Vol. 27, No. 14, 26.06.2019, p. 19319-19330.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Simultaneous polarization transformation and amplification of multi-petawatt laser pulses in magnetized plasmas
AU - Zheng, Xiaolong
AU - Weng, Suming
AU - Zhang, Zhe
AU - Ma, Hanghang
AU - Chen, Min
AU - McKenna, Paul
AU - Sheng, Zheng-Ming
PY - 2019/6/26
Y1 - 2019/6/26
N2 - With increasing laser peak power, the generation and manipulation of high-power laser pulses become a growing challenge for conventional solid-state optics due to their limited damage threshold. As a result, plasma-based optical components that can sustain extremely high fields are attracting increasing interest. Here, we propose a type of plasma waveplate based on magneto-optical birefringence under a transverse magnetic field, which can work under extremely high laser power. Importantly, this waveplate can simultaneously alter the polarization state and boost the peak laser power. It is demonstrated numerically that an initially linearly polarized laser pulse with 5 petawatt peak power can be converted into a circularly polarized pulse with a peak power higher than 10 petawatts by such a waveplate with a centimeter-scale diameter. The energy conversion efficiency of the polarization transformation is about 98%. The necessary waveplate thickness is shown to scale inversely with plasma electron density n e and the square of magnetic field B 0, and it is about 1 cm for n e = 3 × 10 20 cm −3 and B 0 = 100 T. The proposed plasma waveplate and other plasma-based optical components can play a critical role for the effective utilization of multi-petawatt laser systems.
AB - With increasing laser peak power, the generation and manipulation of high-power laser pulses become a growing challenge for conventional solid-state optics due to their limited damage threshold. As a result, plasma-based optical components that can sustain extremely high fields are attracting increasing interest. Here, we propose a type of plasma waveplate based on magneto-optical birefringence under a transverse magnetic field, which can work under extremely high laser power. Importantly, this waveplate can simultaneously alter the polarization state and boost the peak laser power. It is demonstrated numerically that an initially linearly polarized laser pulse with 5 petawatt peak power can be converted into a circularly polarized pulse with a peak power higher than 10 petawatts by such a waveplate with a centimeter-scale diameter. The energy conversion efficiency of the polarization transformation is about 98%. The necessary waveplate thickness is shown to scale inversely with plasma electron density n e and the square of magnetic field B 0, and it is about 1 cm for n e = 3 × 10 20 cm −3 and B 0 = 100 T. The proposed plasma waveplate and other plasma-based optical components can play a critical role for the effective utilization of multi-petawatt laser systems.
KW - polarization transformation
KW - amplification
KW - laser pulses
KW - magnetized plasmas
KW - solid-state optics
KW - plasma devices
UR - https://www.osapublishing.org/oe/home.cfm
U2 - 10.1364/OE.27.019319
DO - 10.1364/OE.27.019319
M3 - Article
VL - 27
SP - 19319
EP - 19330
JO - Optics Express
JF - Optics Express
SN - 1094-4087
IS - 14
ER -