Salamanca Pulsed Laser Center: the Spanish Petawatt

摘要

A few Petawatt lasers are operative now in the world and a few more are under construction in several places. One of them is under construction at Salamanca, Spain, in the framework of a Consortium between the Central Government of Spain, the regional Government of Castilla y Leon and the University of Salamanca. The Spanish PW will reach that extreme power with 30 Joule / 30 femtosecond pulses, using Ti:Sapphire CPA technology and delivering one shot per second. The Salamanca laser will allow synchronized pump/probe experiments with a unique 200 TW probe sharing the same front end. The laser is now under construction and full operation is expected in less than two years. That laser will be a user facility opened to the national and the international scientific community. To understand the meaning of such a system, a review of the technology and its extreme applications in the foreseen range of powers and intensities is presented.