Generation of High Energy Laser Pulses of Ultrashort Duration
Abstract
ONR Program Officer: Quentin SaulterONR Program: Directed Energy Weapons: Ultra-Short Pulse Laser and Atmospheric Characterization;,Department Code 351Email: quentin.saulter@navy.milHigh energy ultrashort pulse lasers enable important applications in directed ener,gy, allowing for high energy delivery on target, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Ultrashort laser pulses can, for example, efficie,ntly generate electromagnetic pulse interference, generate intense flashes of X-rays and Gamma rays, accelerate particles to extreme, energies (gigaelectron volts), generate Terahertz radiation, and create plasma channels in the atmosphere to guide the propagation,of other intense laser beams, microwaves, and electrical discharges. These and other applications will greatly benefit from efficien,t ultrashort pulse lasers capable of delivering Joule and multi-Joule-level pulses at kilohertz repetition rates. However, at presen,t Joule-level picosecond and femtosecond lasers are mostly limited to low repetition rates, below 10 Hz. Moreover, since they are t,ypically pumped by flashlamps, these lasers are inefficient and large in size. We are using high energy picosecond laser pulses gene,rated at 1 kilohertz to study the propagation of high average power beams of high energy ultrashort laser pulses in the atmosphere., Results show that the 1 millisecond intra-pulse interval corresponding to 1 kHz repetition rate is shorter than the relaxation time, of the medium, creating a new regime of high energy laser pulse propagation in air in which the propagation of a given pulse is aff,ected by the perturbations caused by the preceding pulses. We have proposed to extend the high energy kHz repetition rate laser capa,bility to the femtosecond range by using the frequency double output of cryogenically cooled infrared laser amplifiers developed at,Colorado State University to pump a high average power, emitting high energy pulses of femtosecond laser. These new high average po,wer, high energy, femtosecond lasers will open new opportunities for research of ONR relevance, and to train students and post-docs,in this challenging field.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Mar 05, 2022
- Source ID
- N000142212230
Entities
People
- Jorge G. Rocca
Organizations
- Colorado State University
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy