First terawatt picosecond CO(sub 2) laser for advanced accelerator studies at the Brookhaven ATF

摘要

The first terawatt picosecond C0(sub 2) laser system is under development at the Brookhaven Accelerator Test Facility. Presently operational 1 Joule 100-ps ATF laser will be upgraded with a 10 atm amplifier capable of delivery (approximately) 15 Joules of laser energy in a 3 ps pulse. We describe the design of the x-ray preionized 10 atm amplifier of a 10 liter active volume energized by a 1 MV, 200 kA transverse electric discharge. The amplifier, equipped with internal optics, permits the accommodation of a regenerative stage and a multi-pass booster in a relatively compact single discharge volume. The ATF terawatt C0(sub 2) laser shall become operational in 1997 to serve for laser acceleration, x-ray generation and other strong-field physics experiments.