Progress in the Commissioning of the Dual-Arm 10 PW Laser System of ELI-NPHYBRID

In the last few decades, the relatively fast development of laser technology allowed for the realization of ultra-high intensity and ultra-fast laser systems. The extremely high energy density conditions achieved in laser-matter interaction have provided several exciting new regimes of physics to research. Many centers of research have plans to develop a high-power laser system from 10 PW and beyond, as for example the APOLLON laser (10 PW) in France, the Vulcan 20-20 laser system (20 PW) in the UK, the 10 PW laser system at SULF in China, the NSF OPAL laser (25 PW) in the USA, the 10 PW at ELI-BL, and a few more projects to get even closer to 100 PW. The Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) has demonstrated the achievement of the 10 PW laser system since the end of 2020, and its operation from the beginning of 2023.

The first experimental campaign for the commissioning of the 10 PW target areas of ELI-NP was carried out last year [1]. The purpose of the experimental campaign was to prove the performance of the High-Power Laser System (HPLS) and the capability of the target areas by investigating laser-matter interaction, mainly via the acceleration of particles [2-6].

The HPLS is a Ti:Sa based laser system with wavelength centered at 810 nm. It has 2 arms that can deliver on target up to 10 PW of laser power each, with a maximum energy of about 240 J and a pulse duration of about 23 fs at a repetition rate of 1/60 Hz [6].

The 10 PW experimental hall consists of two areas, E1 and E6. The commissioning of both areas started last year and will continue this year. The E1 area is dedicated to experiments with short focal parabolic mirror; while the E6 area is mainly engaged in experiments with long focal mirror. The commission of the E1 area consisted in investigating proton acceleration via the TNSA/RPA mechanism; while the one of the E6 area was carried out by investigating the electron acceleration via LWFA. Protons with record high energies up to 150 MeV have been attained via TNSA, while electron beams with energies exceeding 4 GeV were obtained via LWFA. The laser system generally exhibits very good performances, although existing issues have been exposed, as for instance, pre-pulses in the picoseconds and nanoseconds range that prevent an optimal interaction.

Further investigation and optimization of laser-matter interaction with the 10 PW laser will be performed this year, meanwhile, some improvement in the HPLS will be also made.

References

[1] ELI-NP website, https://www.eli-np.ro/

[2] K. Tanaka et al., “Current status and highlights of the ELI-NP research program”, Matter Radiat. Extremes 5, 024402, DOI: 10.1063/1.5093535 (2020)

[3] F. Lureaux et al., “10 petawatt lasers for extreme light applications”, Proc. SPIE 11259, Solid State Lasers XXIX: Technology and Devices, 112591J, DOI: 10.1117/12.254565 (2020).

[4] F. Lureau et al., “High-energy hybrid femtosecond laser system demonstrating 2 × 10 PW capability”, High Power Laser Science and Engineering, 8, e43, DOI:10.1017/hpl.2020.41 (2020)

[5] D. Doria et al., “Overview of ELI-NP status and laser commissioning experiments with 1 PW and 10 PW class-lasers”, JINST 15 C09053, DOI: 10.1088/1748-0221/15/09/C09053 (2020)

[6] Christophe Radier et al., “10 PW peak power femtosecond laser pulses at ELI-NP” High Power Laser Science and Engineering, Volume 10, e21, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/hpl.2022.11 (2022)