US-France Cooperative Research: High-and Ultrahigh-Intensity CPA Lasers and Their Applications

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

0351023 Mourou As laser peak power increases to extremely high levels, laser-matter interaction will demand the cleanest pulses both in time and in space. These advanced lasers are necessary for so that experiments in a new intensity regime can be performed at the highest intensity level possible, without any preformed plasma. In this U.S.-France cooperative research project led by Gerard Mourou of the University of Michigan's Physics Frontier Center and Daniele Hulin at the Ecole Polytechnique's Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquee (LOA) the objective is to produce the highest intensity laser with the highest temporal contrast. They propose to develop a pulse cleaner that will make possible the generation of pulses with a peak to background contrast greater than 10^10/1. Postdoctoral researchers, one at the University of Michigan and another at LOA in France will work on different approaches to the problem. This one-year grant and comparable funding from the French National Center for Scientific Research provides support for this exchange of postdoctoral research fellows. The proposed research will have broad impact on the ultra-high intensity community. Presently experiments at the highest intensity possible cannot be accomplished because of the lack of temporal and spatial quality of the pulses. The proposed cooperative research project, if successful, could lead to development of a new, high intensity laser (1000 Terrawatts).