Abstract

The PFS project (Petawatt Field Synthesizer) of the Max-Planck-Institute for Quantum Optics aims at chirped pulse optical parametric amplification (OPCPA) [1] to the 5 joule level with a pulse dmation of 5 fs after re-compression at a repetition rate of 10 Hz. Within the HYDRA system (High energy Ytterbium based Diode-pumped Rep-rated Amplifier) which is a 50 TW CPA laser system synchronous pmnp pulses for the OPA chain based on KDP will be generated. Applying SHG process followed by re-compression the pump laser system is designed for delivery of pulses with 20 joules pulse energy at 515 mn. Starting from a Ti:Sa oscillator for the OPA chain the HYDRA amplifiers are seeded with pico-second pulses stretched into the nanosecond time scale after beam splitting band filtering. The pulse energy of regeneratively amplified ns-pulses will be boosted from 100 mJ to the 50 J level by two multi-pass Yb:YAG amplifier stages.

© 2007 IEEE