ECLIPSE: Miniaturization of Ultra-High-Power Laser Systems with Plasma Grating Chirped Pulse Amplification

本项目探索等离子体元素在高功率激光系统建设中的应用。激光是基础科学和商业应用的重要工具，但最强大的系统所发出的光强度受到玻璃和金属光学系统损坏的限制。等离子体可以承受比玻璃或其他固体材料更高的光强度而不会被损坏。因此，等离子体可以使超高功率激光器小型化，但在实际设备中利用这种稳健性已被证明是困难的。该项目通过对等离子体光学特性的详细测量来提高等离子体光学性能，并将其整合到短脉冲激光系统的设计中。具体的目标是提高等离子体光学稳定性和光学性能的发展，适合在更大的系统中使用。总体目标是开发有效集成等离子体组件的激光架构，最终在更小的激光系统中实现更高的功率。该项目将研究体积等离子体传输光栅在啁啾脉冲放大飞秒激光系统设计中的应用，目标是开发适合小型多拍瓦激光器的架构。泵浦激光器可用于塑造具有波长尺度光学质量密度变化的等离子体，从而允许创建等离子体传输光栅和其他衍射光学器件。这种类型的等离子体光学对等离子体密度缺陷具有相对的弹性，并且光学质量和稳定性的进一步改进可以用等离子体类似物取代固态衍射光栅，从而大大缩小高功率飞秒系统所需的光学器件的尺寸。本项目主要研究等离子体光栅的光控制演示与太瓦等离子体脉冲压缩技术的发展之间的科学和实际问题，包括光栅稳定性、能量缩放和最佳压缩器结构的设计。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project explores the use of plasma elements in the construction of high-power laser systems. Lasers are an important tool for both fundamental science and commercial applications, but the light intensity delivered by the most powerful systems is limited by damage to their glass and metal optics. Plasma can withstand much higher light intensity than glass or other solid materials without being damaged. Plasma could therefore enable the miniaturization of ultra-high-power lasers, but taking advantage of this robustness in practical devices has proven difficult. This project uses detailed measurements of the optical properties of plasmas to improve the performance of plasma optics and integrate them into the design of short-pulse laser systems. Specific objectives are the improvement of plasma optic stability and the development of optics with properties suitable for use in larger systems. The overall goal is to develop laser architectures that integrate plasma components effectively, ultimately enabling higher power in smaller laser system footprints. This project will investigate the use of volumetric plasma transmission gratings in the design of chirped-pulse-amplification femtosecond laser systems, with the goal of developing architectures suitable for compact multi-petawatt lasers. Pump lasers can be used to shape plasmas with wavelength-scale optical-quality variations in density, allowing the creation of plasma transmission gratings and other diffractive optics. This type of plasma optic is relatively resilient to plasma density imperfections and further improvements in optical quality and stability could enable the replacement of solid-state diffraction gratings with plasma analogues, dramatically shrinking the size of the optics required for high-power femtosecond systems. This project focuses on the scientific and practical issues between demonstration of optical control with a plasma grating and the development of terawatt-scale plasma-based pulse compression, including grating stability, energy scaling, and the design of an optimal compressor architecture.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.