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DOE OSTI · 2583438

A renewable double plasma mirror for Petawatt-class lasers

Czapla, Nick [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (United States)]·Nasir, Derek M. [The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (United States)]·Obst-Huebl, Lieselotte [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)]·Zingale, Anthony [The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (United States)]·Bin, Jianhui [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai (China); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)]·Gonsalves, Anthony J. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)]·Steinke, Sven [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)]·Nakamura, Kei [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)]·Schroeder, Carl B. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)]·Esarey, Eric [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)]·Geddes, Cameron G. R. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)]·Schumacher, Douglass W. [The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (United States)]
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Abstract

Exceptional pulse contrast can be critical for ultraintense laser experiments, particularly when using solid density targets, and their use is becoming widespread. However, current plasma mirror technology is becoming inadequate for the new generation of high repetition rate, high power lasers now available. We describe a novel double plasma mirror configuration based on renewable, free standing, ultrathin liquid crystal films tested at the BELLA Petawatt Laser Center. Although operating at a repetition rate of several shots per minute, this system can be scaled to a high repetition rate exceeding 1 Hz and represents an important step towards enabling sustained, continuous operation of plasma mirrors. We demonstrate an improvement of two to three orders of magnitude in contrast and a total throughput of 80%. We present the first measurements of a beam reflected from a single or double plasma mirror system using a wavefront sensor, showing a well preserved wavefront and spatial mode. Finally, we introduce a model that predicts the total throughput through this double plasma mirror. This is the first model that accurately predicts the peak reflectivity of a plasma mirror when given the laser temporal profile.

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70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGYHigh power laserLiquid crystal filmOptical physicsPlasma mirrorPlasma physicsUltrashort pulse

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Czapla, Nick [SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (United States)], Nasir, Derek M. [The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (United States)], Obst-Huebl, Lieselotte [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)], Zingale, Anthony [The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (United States)], Bin, Jianhui [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai (China); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)], Gonsalves, Anthony J. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)], Steinke, Sven [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)], Nakamura, Kei [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)], Schroeder, Carl B. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)], Esarey, Eric [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)], Geddes, Cameron G. R. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)], Schumacher, Douglass W. [The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (United States)]. 2025-07-01. A renewable double plasma mirror for Petawatt-class lasers. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-07016-3

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