Abstract

Usually, the raison d’être for investment in high power laser systems has been rightly associated with the “extreme” science that is made possible via their development. Nowhere is this more true than at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, which for many years has been home to some of the worlds most powerful “peak power” laser systems. The Vulcan PW (Nd:glass) and dual beam Gemini PW (Ti:S) systems are good recent examples of this and a planned upgrade to the Vulcan system raising its power to up to the 20 PW level based on an OPCPA approach further underpins the rationale that lies behind this.

© 2012 Optical Society of America