High Power, Short Pulse Ultra-Violet Laser for the Development of a New X-Ray Laser

Abstract

A high power, short pulse ultra-violet laser system (Powerful Picosecond-Laser) has been developed at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) as part of experiments designed to generate shorter wavelength X-ray lasers. With the addition of pulse compression and a final KrF amplifier the laser output is expected to have reached 1/3-1/2 TW levels. The laser system, particularly the final amplifier, will be described along with some initial soft X-ray spectra from laser-target experiments, The front-end of the PP-Laser provides an output of 20-30 GW and can be focussed to intensities of ~1016 W/cm2. Experiments using this output to examine the effects of a prepulse on laser-target interaction will be described.