High Power Laser Science and Engineering, 2018, 6 (3): 03000e47, Published Online: Aug. 22, 2018
400 TW operation of Orion at ultra-high contrast
Abstract
The Orion facility at the Atomic Weapons Establishment in the United Kingdom has the capability to operate one of its two 500 J, 500 fs short-pulse petawatt beams at the second harmonic, the principal reason being to increase the temporal contrast of the pulse on target. This is achieved post-compression, using 3 mm thick type-1 potassium dihydrogen phosphate crystals. Since the beam diameter of the compressed pulse is 
mm, it is impractical to achieve this over the full aperture due to the unavailability of the large aperture crystals. Frequency doubling was originally achieved on Orion using a circular sub-aperture of 300 mm diameter. The reduction in aperture limited the output energy to 100 J. The second-harmonic capability has been upgraded by taking two square 300 mm 
300 mm sub-apertures from the beam and combining them at focus using a single paraboloidal mirror, thus creating a 200 J, 500 fs, i.e., 400 TW facility at the second harmonic.
mm, it is impractical to achieve this over the full aperture due to the unavailability of the large aperture crystals. Frequency doubling was originally achieved on Orion using a circular sub-aperture of 300 mm diameter. The reduction in aperture limited the output energy to 100 J. The second-harmonic capability has been upgraded by taking two square 300 mm 300 mm sub-apertures from the beam and combining them at focus using a single paraboloidal mirror, thus creating a 200 J, 500 fs, i.e., 400 TW facility at the second harmonic.Stefan Parker, Colin Danson, David Egan, Stephen Elsmere, Mark Girling, Ewan Harvey, David Hillier, Dianne Hussey, Stephen Masoero, James McLoughlin, Rory Penman, Paul Treadwell, David Winter, Nicholas Hopps. 400 TW operation of Orion at ultra-high contrast[J]. High Power Laser Science and Engineering, 2018, 6(3): 03000e47.
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