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The SGII-Up laser facility in Shanghai is one of the most important high-power laser facilities in China. It is designed to obtain 24 kJ (3ω) of energy with a square pulse of 3 ns using eight laser beams (two bundles). To satisfy the requirements for the safety, efficiency, and quality, an alignment system is developed for this facility. This alignment system can perform automatic alignment of the preamplifier system, main amplifier system, and harmonic conversion system within 30 min before every shot during the routine operation of the facility. In this article, an overview of the alignment system is first presented. Then, its alignment characteristics are discussed, along with the alignment process. Finally, experimental results, including the alignment results and the facility performance, are reported. The results show that the far-field beam pointing alignment accuracy is better than 3 μrad, and the alignment error of the near-field beam centering is no larger than 1 mm. These satisfy the design requirements very well.

Suprathermal electrons produced by laser–plasma interactions at 0.53-μm laser wavelength have been investigated using 19 electron spectrometers. The targets were 2- and 10-μm-thick Al foils, while the laser average intensities were 2 × 1013 and 7 × 1014 W/cm2. A double temperature distribution was observed in the electron energy spectrum: the lower electron temperature was below 25 keV, whereas the higher was ~50 keV. The angular distribution of the total suprathermal electron energy approximately obeyed the Gaussian distribution, peaking along the k vector of the incident laser beam for perpendicular incidence. Furthermore, the conversion rate of laser energy into escaped suprathermal electron energy over the π sr solid angle was ~10−4 at $\sim \!\!10^{14} \; {\rm W}/{\rm c}{\rm m}^{\rm 2}$, increasing almost linearly with the laser intensity.

The dispersive Fourier transform is suitable for characterizing short pulses. However, the traditional temporal Gerchberg–Saxton (GS) algorithm suffers from the timing error of measured dispersed waveforms, which limits the measurement performance of the temporal phase. An annealing modified GS algorithm that can simultaneously retrieve the temporal profile and phase is proposed. The inevitable timing error in the measurement can be accurately recovered by the algorithm, which significantly improves the retrieval performance. Based on the annealing modified GS algorithm, an experimental structure is proposed to achieve single-shot full-field measurement. The algorithm is analyzed numerically and the temporal waveform and phase of short pulses can be retrieved successfully in the experiment. The results indicate that this single-shot full-field measurement method is free from timing error, which is important for real applications. The simple single-shot method promises future applications to measure the temporal profile and temporal phase of short pulses with high accuracy simultaneously.

A high-power, Joule-class, nanosecond temporally shaped multi-pass ring laser amplifier system with two neodymium-doped phosphate glass (Nd:glass) laser heads is demonstrated. The laser amplifier system consists of three parts: an all-fiber structure seeder, a diode-pumped Nd:glass regenerative amplifier and a multi-pass ring amplifier, where the thermally induced depolarization of two laser heads is studied experimentally and theoretically. Following the injection of a square pulse with the pulse energy of 0.9 mJ and pulse width of 6 ns, a 0.969-J high-energy laser pulse at 1 Hz was generated, which had the ability to change the waveform arbitrarily, based on the all-fiber structure front end. The experimental results show that the proposed laser system is promising to be adopted in the preamplifier of high-power laser facilities.

We experimentally investigated the morphology and mechanism of laser-induced damage in the ablation cutting of thin glass sheets with picosecond pulsed lasers and we compared the experimental results to our models. After several passes of laser ablation, we observed two different kinds of damage morphologies on the cross-section of the cut channel. They are distinguished to be the damage region caused by high-density free-electrons and the heat-affected zone due to the heat accumulation, respectively. Furthermore, micro-cracks can be observed on the top surface of the workpiece near the cut edge. The nano-cracks could be generated by high energy free-electrons but opened and developed to be visible micro-cracks by thermal stress generated in the heat-affected zone. The crack length was proportional to the volume of heat-affected zone. Heat-affected-zone and visible-cracks free conditions of glass cutting were achieved by controlling the repetition rate and spatial overlap of laser pulses.

Accurately and efficiently predicting the fundamental-frequency temporal shape of broadband long-pulsed lasers is very important in research on the properties of high-power laser amplifiers. In this study, we first propose that analytic electric polarization in the temporal domain is applied to broadband long-pulsed pulse amplification. We first verify the accuracy of this algorithm in the dozens of picoseconds range and the results are consistent with Miro software. Then we simulate the broadband long-pulsed amplification. The simulation results indicate that the front edge of the output pulse is more enlarged than the end edge owing to saturation and that the gain narrowing induces severe amplitude modulation. Analytic electric polarization in the temporal domain is effective and precise for investigating the broadband pulse amplification in the time scale from dozens of picoseconds to nanoseconds, and the computation time can be decreased by at least 4 orders of magnitude.

UV laser damage is still the key issue of high power nanosecond laser systems. The operation performance of the final optics in SGII-UP facility is first reviewed. Based on a high power laser prototype, laser-induced damage of large aperture final optics at 351nm was experimentally studied, including damage initiation, growth and morphologies. The near filed of 351nm laser beam was precisely measured with a high resolution by using the precision diagnostics system (PDS) to study the effects of laser modulation and propagation on laser damage. The damage behaviors were comprehensively analyzed and the main contributors to laser damage were discussed. The development perspective of final optics system for high power laser system is briefly introduced.

The latest progress on high power laser facilities in NLHPLP was reported. Based on a high power laser prototype, damage behavior of 3ω optics was experimentally tested, and the key influencing factors contributed to laser-induced damage in optics were deeply analyzed. The latest experimental results of advanced precision measurement for optical quality applied in the high power laser facility were introduced. At last, based on the accumulated works of 3ω elements damage behavior status in our laboratory, beam expanding scheme was presented to increase the total maximum output 3ω energy properly and decrease the laser induced damage risking of ω optics simultaneously.

In this paper, we review the status of the multifunctional experimental platform at the National Laboratory of High Power Laser and Physics (NLHPLP). The platform, including the SG-II laser facility, SG-II 9th beam, SG-II upgrade (SG-II UP) facility, and SG-II 5 PW facility, is operational and available for interested scientists studying inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and a broad range of high-energy-density physics. These facilities can provide important experimental capabilities by combining different pulse widths of nanosecond, picosecond, and femtosecond scales. In addition, the SG-II UP facility, consisting of a single petawatt system and an eight-beam nanosecond system, is introduced including several laser technologies that have been developed to ensure the performance of the facility. Recent developments of the SG-II 5 PW facility are also presented.

The Shen-Guang II Upgrade (SG-II-U) laser facility consists of eight high-power nanosecond laser beams and one short-pulse picosecond petawatt laser. It is designed for the study of inertial confinement fusion (ICF), especially for conducting fast ignition (FI) research in China and other basic science experiments. To perform FI successfully with hohlraum targets containing a golden cone, the long-pulse beam and cylindrical hohlraum as well as the short-pulse beam and cone target alignment must satisfy tight specifications (30 and $20~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ rms for each case). To explore new ICF ignition targets with six laser entrance holes (LEHs), a rotation sensor was adapted to meet the requirements of a three-dimensional target and correct beam alignment. In this paper, the strategy for aligning the nanosecond beam based on target alignment sensor (TAS) is introduced and improved to meet requirements of the picosecond lasers and the new six LEHs hohlraum targets in the SG-II-U facility. The expected performance of the alignment system is presented, and the alignment error is also discussed.

Polarization mode dispersion (PMD) in fibers for high-power lasers can induce significant frequency modulation to amplitude modulation (FM-to-AM) conversion. However, existing techniques are not sufficiently flexible to achieve efficient compensation for such FM-to-AM conversion. By analyzing the nonuniform transmission spectrum caused by PMD, we found that the large-scale envelope of the transmission spectrum has more serious impacts on the amount of AM. In order to suppress the PMD-induced FM-to-AM conversion, we propose a novel tunable spectral filter with multiple degrees of freedom based on a half-wave plate, a nematic liquid crystal, and an axis-rotated polarization-maintaining fiber. Peak wavelength, free spectral range (FSR), and modulation depth of the filter are decoupled and can be controlled independently, which is verified through both simulations and experiments. The filter is utilized to compensate for the PMD-induced FM-to-AM conversion in the front end of a high-power laser facility. The results indicate that, for a pulse with phase-modulation frequency of 22.82 GHz, the FM-to-AM conversion could be reduced from 18% to 3.2% within a short time and maintained below 6.5% for 3 h. The proposed filter is also promising for other applications that require flexible spectral control such as high-speed channel selection in optical communication networks.

An optically addressed liquid crystal modulator for wavefront control of 1053 nm laser beam is reported in this paper. Its working principle, control method and spatial phase modulation capability are mainly introduced. A new method of measuring the relationship between gray level and phase retardation is proposed. The rationality of the curve is further confirmed by designing special experiments. According to the curve, several spatial phase distributions have been realized by this home-made device. The results show that, not only the maximum phase retardation is larger than $2\unicode[STIX]{x03C0}$ for 1053 nm wavelength, but also the control accuracy is high. Compared with the liquid crystal on silicon type spatial light modulator, this kind of modulator has the advantages of generating smooth phase distribution and avoiding the black-matrix effect.

A high power laser system was used to drive the ignition of inertial confinement fusion (ICF), of which the high energy, the uniform focal spot, the accurate laser waveform, and the synchronization between the laser beams are key parameters. To accomplish this, global laser characteristics control should be assured, which was the main purpose of the injection laser system. In this paper, the key technological progress involved in the improvement of the performance of the injection laser of SG-II is reported, including frequency domain control, time domain control, near-field spatial shaping, pre-amplifier technology, and the optical parametric chirped pulse amplification pump source.

We present a recent progress of the SG-II 5PW facility, which designed a multi-petawatt ultrashort pulse laser based on optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA). The prior two optical parametric amplifiers have been accomplished and chirped pulses with an energy of 49.7 J and a full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) spectrum bandwidth of 85 nm have been achieved. In the PW-scale optical parametric amplification (OPA), with the pump pulse that has an energy of 118 J from the second harmonic generation of the SG-II 7th beam, the pump-to-signal conversion efficiency is up to 41.9%, which to the best of our knowledge is the highest among all of the reported values for OPCPA systems. The compressed pulse is higher than 37 J in 21 fs (1.76 PW), and the focal spot is ${\sim}10~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ after the closed-loop corrections by the adaptive optics. Limited by the repetition of the pump laser, the SG-II 5PW facility operates one shot per hour. It has successfully been employed for high energy physics experiments.

In high power laser facility for inertial confinement fusion research, final optics assembly (FOA) plays a critical role in the frequency conversion, beam focusing, color separation, beam sampling and debris shielding. The design and performance of FOA in SG-II Upgrade laser facility are mainly introduced here. Due to the limited space and short focal length, a coaxial aspheric wedged focus lens is designed and applied in the FOA configuration. Then the ghost image analysis, the focus characteristic analysis, the B integral control design and the optomechanical design are carried out in the FOA design phase. In order to ensure the FOA performance, two key technologies are developed including measurement and adjustment technique of the wedged focus lens and the stray light management technique based on ground glass. Experimental results show that the design specifications including laser fluence, frequency conversion efficiency and perforation efficiency of the focus spot have been achieved, which meet the requirements of physical experiments well.

This paper introduces the recent development of our integrated optical addressed spatial light modulator and its applications in the high power laser systems. It can be used to convert the incident beam into uniform beam for high energy effiency, or it can realize special distribution to meet the requirements of physical experiment. The optical addressing method can avoid the problem of the black matrix effect of the electric addressing device. Its transmittance for 1053nm light is about 85% and the aperture of our device has reached 22mm× 22mm. As a transmissive device, it can be inserted into the system without affecting the original optical path. The applications of the device in the three laser systems are introduced in detail in this paper. In the SGII-Up laser facility, this device demonstrates its ability to shape the output laser beam of the fundamental frequency when the output energy reaches about 2000J. Meanwhile, there’s no change in the time waveform and far field distribution. This means that it can effectively improve the capacity of the maximum output energy. In the 1J1Hz Nd-glass laser system, this device has been used to improve the uniformity of the output beam. As a result, the PV value reduces from 1.4 to 1.2, which means the beam quality has been improved effectively. In the 9th beam of SGII laser facility, the device has been used to meet the requirements of sampling the probe light. As the transmittance distribution of the laser beam can be adjusted, the sampling spot can be realized in real time. As a result, it’s easy to make the sampled spot meet the requirements of physics experiment.

We investigated the morphology and mechanism of laser-induced damage in the ablation cutting of thin glass sheets with picosecond laser. Two kinds of damage morphologies observed on the cross-section of the cut channel, are caused by high-density free-electrons and the temperature accumulation, respectively. Notches and micro-cracks can be observed on the top surface of the sample near the cut edge. The surface micro-cracks were related to high energy free-electrons and also the heat-affected zone. Heat-affected-zone and visible-cracks free conditions of glass cutting were achieved by controlling the repetition rate and spatial overlap of laser pulses.

The SGII-Up laser facility is one of the most important high power laser system in china. The maximum output of one beam is studied, and it is improved to 17600J from initial 5000J.

A hot-electron spectrometer array with two-dimensional distribution has been designed with a wide-angle range and high-energy resolution to measure the spatially resolved electron spectra for high-power-laser plasma interaction experiments. It consisted of 19 identical electron spectrometers set in three directions with an interval of 10°. Each electron spectrometer was designed with a uniform magnetic field to detect electrons in the range from 20 to 500 keV. The spectrometers were calibrated using electrons from an accelerator. In an experiment, the spatially resolved electron energy spectra, which approximately had a Maxwell distribution, were obtained from an aluminum foil target irradiated by a 0.53-μm laser pulse.

A new high power laser facility with 8 beams and maximum output energy of one beam 5kJ/3.4ns/3ω has been performed and operated since 2015. Combined together the existing facilities have constructed a multifunction experimental platform including multi-pulse width of ns, ps and fs and active probing beam, which is an effective tool for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) and High Energy Density (HED) researches. In addition another peculiar high power laser prototype pushes 1ω maximum output energy to 16kJ in 5ns and 17.5kJ in 20ns in flat-in-time pulse, this system is based on large aperture four-pass main amplifier architecture with 310mm×310mm output beam aperture. Meanwhile the near field and far field have good quality spanning large energy scope by use of a wide range of technologies, such as reasonable overall design technique, the integrated front end, cleanness class control, nonlinear laser propagation control, wave-front adaptive optics and precision measurement. Based on this excellent backup, 3ω damage research project is planning to be implemented. To realize the above aims, the beam expanding scheme in final transport spatial filter could be adopted considering tradeoff between the efficient utilization of 1ω output and 3ω damage threshold. Besides for deeply dissecting conversion process for beam characteristic influence of 1ω beam, WCI (Wave-front Code Image) instrument with refined structure would be used to measure optical field with simultaneous high precision amplitude and phase information, and what’s more WCI can measure the 1ω, 2ω and 3ω optical field in the same time at same position, so we can analyze the 3ω beam quality evolution systematically, and ultimately to improve the 3ω limited output. In a word, we need pay attention to some aspects contents with emphasis for future huger laser facility development. The first is to focus the new technology application. The second is to solve the matching problem between 1ω beam and the 3ω beam. The last is to build the whole effective design in order to improve efficiency and cost performance.

Broadband exceeding 30nm amplification has been realized experimentally based on 95% deuteration DKDP crystal with 532nm pump pulses, which meets numerical analysis well. The results indicate potential utilization for OPCPA systems of compressed 30fs pulses.

A new laser facility with 30kJ/ns/3ω(8 beams) output energy has begun operation with good performance. Another single laser prototype pushes 1ω output energy to 17.5kJ/21ns in 350mm×350mm aperture with four-pass main amplifier architecture.

A second harmonic generation system with two type II KDP crystals in quadrature is optimized for the nanosecond chirp pulse. The acceptance bandwidth of this optimizing scheme is close to 10 nm by using two crystals with slightly opposite angular detuning from phase matching and the conversion efficiency can reach 70% for top-hat chirp pulse at ~2 GW/cm2 in theory. The preliminary experimental results are obtained on the 9th beam of Shen Guang II SGII laser system, and the performance of optimization is partially verified.

The discussion on laser science and technology during the “Laser Frontier” forum on 20 to 21 October 2012 in Beijing provided a global overview of laser development status and trends. Several frontiers in the application and industrial development of laser science and technology in China are reviewed. Suggestions on several aspects of China’s laser technology and industry development, especially on a number of laser technology fields and their applications that are closely related to the national economy and industry, are proposed.

We report an optically addressed liquid crystal light valve, a home-made device that has solved the problem of low transmittance caused by opaque electrodes in present transmissive spatial light modulators. The operating characteristic of the light valve is analyzed. The optimum driving voltage of this device is 27 V at 300 Hz, as deduced from the equivalent electric model. Its transmittance reaches 80% and its contrast is approximately 40:1. Its dynamic performance, especially its ability to obscure laser light at programmed locations, is demonstrated. The results are in good agreement with the desired shape, which indicates that our light valve performs very well.

An all-fiber optical laser pulse multi-pass stretcher using a chirped fiber Bragg grating (CFBG) is demonstrated. Pulses from a 1 053-nm mode-locked fiber seed oscillator are stretched by multiple passing through a chirped fiber grating set in a fiber regenerative amplifier structure. We stretch the pulse from 16 ps to 1.855 ns after it transmits seven loops in the stretcher. The main factors that affect the stretching results are discussed.

The experimental performance of beam smoothing by combined one-dimensional (1D) spectral dispersion and lens array (LA) technology is presented, as applied in the ninth beam of SG-II. Using 3\omega spectral dispersion with a bandwidth of 270 GHz and a line dispersion that is 24.9 times the beam's diffraction-limited width decreases the focal spot non-uniformity of 80% energy concentration from 46% to 17%. The multiple-beam interference properties of the LA are theoretically and experimentally validated by spatial power spectral density analysis. Peak-spectra suppression ratios of 20 and 10 dB are achieved in the dispersion and orthogonal directions, respectively.

FM-to-AM modulation is an important effect in the front end of high-power lasers that influences the temporal profile. Various methods have been implemented in standard-fiber and polarization-maintaining (PM)-fiber front ends to suppress the FM-to-AM modulation. To analyze the modulation in the front end, a theoretical model is established and detailed simulations carried out that show that the polarizing (PZ) fiber, whose fast axis has a large loss, can successfully suppress the modulation. Moreover, the stability of the FM-to-AM modulation can be improved, which is important for the front end to obtain a stable output. To verify the model, a PZ fiber front end is constructed experimentally. The FM-to-AM modulation, without any compensation, is less than 4%, whereas that of the PM fiber front end with the same structure is nearly 20%. The stability of the FM-to-AM modulation depth is analyzed experimentally and the peak-to-peak and standard deviation (SD) are 2% and 0.38%, respectively, over 3 h. The experimental results agree with the simulation results and both prove that the PZ fiber front end can successfully suppress the FM-to-AM conversion. The PZ fiber front end is a promising alternative for improving the performance of the front end in high-power laser facilities.

The noncritically phase-matched (NCPM) fourth-harmonic generation (FHG) with partially deuterated dihydrogen phosphate (KD*P) crystal at an Nd:glass laser radiation wavelength of 1053.1 nm has been confirmed. NCPM FHG has been achieved in 70% and 65% deuterated KD*P crystal at the temperature of 17.7°C and 29.3°C, respectively. The angular acceptance of 70% and 65% deuterated KD*P crystals fixed at their NCPM temperature were measured, which were 53 and 55 mrad, respectively. The application of the NCPM FHG in a high-power laser facility for inertial confinement fusion is also discussed. Based on the theoretical analysis, the NCPM KD*P can be placed after the focus lens; thus, the laser-induced damage of a fused-silica lens at ultraviolet can be avoided.

In order to obtain the intensity distribution of a 351 nm focal spot and smoothing by spectral dispersion (SSD) focal plane profile of a SGII-upgraded facility, a type of off-axis imaging system with three spherical mirrors, suitable for a finite distance source point to be imaged near the diffraction limit has been designed. The quality factor of the image system is 1.6 times of the diffraction limit tested by a 1053 nm point source. Because of the absence of a 351 nm point source, we can use a Collins diffraction imaging integral with respect to λ=351 nm, corresponding to a quality factor that is 3.8 times the diffraction limit at 351 nm. The calibration results show that at least the range of ±10 mrad of view field angle and ±50 mm along the axial direction around the optimum object distance can be satisfied with near diffraction limited image that is consistent with the design value. Using this image system, the No. 2 beam of the SGII-upgraded facility has been tested. The test result of the focal spot of final optics assembly (FOA) at 351 nm indicates that about 80% of energy is encompassed in 14.1 times the diffraction limit, while the output energy of the No. 2 beam is 908 J at 1053 nm. According to convolution theorem, the true value of a 351 nm focal spot of FOA is about 12 times the diffraction limit because of the influence of the quality factor. Further experimental studies indicate that the RMS value along the smoothing direction is less than 15.98% in the SSD spot test experiment. Computer simulations show that the quality factor of the image system used in the experiment has almost no effect on the SSD focal spot test. The image system can remarkably distort the SSD focal spot distribution under the circumstance of the quality factor 15 times worse than the diffraction limit. The distorted image shows a steep slope in the contour of the SSD focal spot along the smoothing direction that otherwise has a relatively flat top region around the focal spot center.

A high-precision temperature-controlled narrow band-stop fiber Bragg grating (FBG) filter and light source self-calibration technique are proposed for application in the Brillouin optical time domain reflectometer (BOTDR) sensor system. With the proposed application, the BOTDR sensor system maintains good long-term stability and temperature precision through the reduction of the center wavelength drift in the FBG filters and corresponding decrease in the changes in light intensity. The experiment result shows that temperature precision of 1 °C and temperature stability of 0.7 °C can be achieved in a temperature sensor over a range of 8 km.

In order to avoid stimulated Brillouin scattering and smooth the final focal spot that reaches the D-T capsule, spectral broadening is essential. However, the modulation of spectral structure might result in frequency-to-amplitude modulation (FM-to-AM) conversion. The spatial filter pinhole is used to cut off the high-frequency transmission laser, and to ensure the desired pass. Improper parameter of pinhole would lead a negative impact. Using the spatial filter pinhole, we analyze the characteristic of intensity modulation using several pinholes of improper parameters. We then compare these results with the intensity modulation obtained from an experiment. Experimental diagnosis and design of an appropriate pinhole parameter would be highly beneficial to the field of high-power lasers.

The propagation properties of Bessel beam is a meaningful research. In this paper, based on the expanding the hard-edged circular aperture as a finite sum of complex Gaussian functions and the scalar diffraction theory, an approximate analytical solution for Bessel beam propagating through a fractional Fourier transform system is derived in the cylindrical coordinates. Then, the detailed numerical calculation for Bessel beam is presented. The simulation also shows that the beam parameter and the order of fractional Fourier transform result in the change of field distribution, including location, intensity and width.

Target irradiation uniformity is very important in laser-produced plasmas experiments. The wavelength dependence of the irradiation uniformity is investigated in the joint scheme using a lens array (LA) and the technique of smoothing by spectral dispersion (SSD). It is proved that, for the long wavelength laser, lateral thermal conduction smoothing within the target is quite effective, while for the ultraviolet laser, SSD is the main smoothing mechanism. So SSD and other temporal smoothing methods are very necessary in producing uniform irradiation with laser beam of short wavelength.

High-efficiency compression gratings based on total internal reflection (TIR) are promising alternatives of compressor gratings because of their high diffraction efficiency, potential high damage resistant ability, and compact structure. Dependence of the −1 order diffraction efficiencies on grating parameters is analyzed for TE- and TM-polarized incident light of 1053 nm at Littrow angle, which is calculated by using the rigorous coupled-wave analysis. A more intuitional view on the relation is offered through three-dimensional slicing figures instead of two-dimensional ones. The performances of high-efficiency gratings are compared and regarded as criteria for further choices, including spectral bandwidth, angle bandwidth, dispersion, and intensity distribution. For TE- and TM-irradiations, similar spectral bandwidth and angle bandwidth can be achieved by different grating parameters. However, the computer simulation result on the intensity distributions of the two polarized waves shows that such design should be used under the illumination of TE-polarized wave for lower intensity enhancement ratio, which is an important factor related to the gratings’ damage threshold.

A new type of optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier is designed and analyzed for the amplification of pulse centered at 808 nm. A novel crystal, yttrium calcium oxyborate YCa4O(BO3)3 (YCOB), is utilized in the power amplification stage of optical parametric amplification (OPA). Noncollinear phase matching parameters in the xoz principle plane of YCOB, compared with those in BBO and DKDP, are analyzed by numerical simulation. The results show that YCOB rather than DKDP can be used in the power amplification stage of OPA to realize the amplification of chirped pulse to several joules with a gain bandwidth exceeding 100 nm. This can be used to gain a high intensity pulse of ~10 fs after the compressor.

Compared to off-axis holography, phase-shifting technology takes full use of the space-bandwidth product of the detector array. Here we introduce the Chinese Taiji into diffractive lenses and generate the phase-shifting focal spots, which not only can be used for a spherical reference wave, but also make it possible to realize the lensless Fourier-transform holography. The experimental results of a 1951 U.S. Air Force resolution test target verify the validity of the above theory in the optical region. Owing to the amplitude-only diffractive lenses, these kinds of lenses will have great potential in x-ray holography or biochemical microscopy for the next generation of synchrotron radiation and free electron lasers in the future.

The evolution of filaments due to the Weibel Instability was studied through experiments of two asymmetric counterstreaming plasmas produced by nanosecond laser pulses with total energy more than 1 kJ. The magnetic field around filaments was measured by the Faraday rotation technique as tens of Tesla after an exponential growth at the rate of 0.148 ns − 1, which was in good agreement with the calculated features of the Weibel Instability with experimental plasma properties. The temporal evolution of the separation distances between filaments was also recorded and fitted with two analytical models by Medvedev et al. [Astrophys. J. 618, L75–L78 (2005)] and Ruyer et al. [Phys. Plasmas 22, 032102 (2015)], respectively. While the magnetic field growth followed the quasi-linear theory of the Weibel Instability process in counterstreaming plasmas of non-relativity, the evolution of filaments through coalescence behaviors presented a nonlinear temporal increase in the filament widths.

Effects of stretcher adjustment aberration on the residual dispersions of the laser system is analyzed making use of the ray tracing method. It is shown that the adjustment aberrations affect the pulse contrast and we must select an appropriate adjustment precision for the stretcher in the petawatt laser system. And as an example, a proper adjustment precision of the pulse stretcher is also proposed for the SHENGUANG (SG) II laser facility.

We study and experimentally demonstrate a sensitive single-shot correlation system in which only a diffraction grating is used to produce a transverse time delay (TTD) in the reference pulse. The mechanism of the TTD introduced by the grating and the formation of the relative time delay (RTD) in the noncollinear correlation system are analyzed in detail. By using our system, we successfully measured the temporal duration of picosecond laser pulses, and a time resolution of ~0.047 ps is obtained at 1047 nm. The impact of the grating dispersion and the second harmonic beam walk-off effect on the measurement are considered.

Inverse symmetric Dammann grating is a special grating, whose transition points are reflection symmetric about the midpoint with inverse phase offset in one period. It can produce even-numbered or odd-numbered array illumination when the phase modulations are pi or a specific value. Numerical solutions optimized by the steepest-descent algorithm for binary phase and multilevel phases with splitting ratio from I x 4 to 1 x 14 are given. Fabrication of 1 x 6 array without the zero-order intensity and 1 x 7 array with the zero-order intensity are made from the same amplitude mask. A 6 x 6 output without the crossed zero-orders was achieved by crossing two one-dimensional 1 x 6 inverse symmetric Dammann gratings. This grating may have potential value for practical applications. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Incorporating the shielded method and post-processing method, a 75 mW single frequency Yb-doped DFB fiber laser was obtained with a 250 mW laser diode pump source at 978 nm. The threshold of the laser is 2 mW. The laser is single-polarization operation and the output power fluctuation is less than 0.2 mW in one hour when the pump power is 250 mW.

A new spectrum shaping method, based on electro-optic modulation, to alleviate gain narrowing in chirped pulse amplification (CPA) system, is described and numerically simulated. Near-Fourier transform-limited seed laser pulse is chirped linearly through optical stretcher. Then the chirped laser pulse is coupled into integrated waveguide electro-optic modulator driven by an aperture-coupled-stripline (ACSL) electrical-waveform generator, and the pulse shape and amplitude are shaped in time domain. Because of the direct relationship between frequency interval and time interval of the linearly chirped pulse, the laser pulse spectrum is shaped correspondingly. Spectrum-shaping examples are modeled numerically to determine the spectral resolution of this technique. The phase error introduced in this method is also discussed.

With the upgrade program of SG-II laser facility, 1kJ PW laser system based on its Nd:glass ninth beam has been designed for the scientific research on high energy density physics, ICF, especially the fast ignition. In this paper the design overview is presented. According to the schedule, the installation of optics and mechanics will be finished by the middle of 2009, and the operation will start in half year later.