High-repetition rate solid target delivery system for PW-class laser–matter interaction at ELI Beamlines

Abstract

L3-HAPLS (High-repetition-rate Advanced Petawatt Laser System) at ELI (Extreme Light Infrastructure) Beamlines currently delivers 0.45 PW pulses (12 J in 27 fs) at 3.3 Hz repetition rate. A fresh target surface for every shot was placed at the laser focus using an in-house tape target system designed to withstand large laser intensities and energies. It has been tested for different material thicknesses (25 and 7.6 µm), while L3-HAPLS delivered laser shots for energies ranging from 1 to 12 J. A technical description of the tape target system is given. The device can be used in diverse geometries needed for laser–matter interaction studies by providing an ≈300° free angle of view on the target in the equatorial plane. We show experimental data demonstrating the shot-to-shot stability of the device. An x-ray crystal spherical spectrometer was set up to measure the Kα yield stability, while a GHz H-field probe was used to check the shot-to-shot electromagnetic pulse generation. Finally, we discuss short and mid-term future improvements of the tape target system for efficient user operation.

Compact undulator-based soft x-ray radiation source at ELI Beamlines: user-oriented program

“…In 2023, while the L2 DUHA laser is still at the development-and-assemble stage, we exploit pulses of L3 HALPS 57,58 laser. The L3 HALPS laser system currently operates at 3.3 Hz repetition rate and provides a single square beam having 250 × 250 mm 2 size, with ~800 nm central wavelength, 30-fs pulse duration and up to 13 J energy in a pulse.…”

Data-driven science and machine learning methods in laser–plasma physics

“…In comparison, its use in laser-plasma physics is still in its infancy and is curiously driven by both data abundance and data scarcity. Regarding the former, fast developments in both laser technology [70] and plasma targetry [71][72][73][74] nowadays permit the operation of laser-plasma experiments -in particular laser-plasma accelerators -at joule-level energies and multi-Hz to kHz repetition rates [75][76][77][78][79] . The vast amounts of data generated by these experiments can be used to develop data-driven models, which are then employed in lieu of conventional theoretical or empirical approaches, or to augment them.…”

Stability and debris-mitigation of a solid tape target delivery system for intense laser-matter interactions towards high-repetition-rate

“…Nowadays several approaches are pursued, e.g. generation of cryogenic ribbons [18], use of liquid jets [19,20] or unwinding of a thin tape near the interaction position [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. All of these schemes provide fast refreshing of target surface automatically and are able to deliver tens of thousands of targets in continuous operation under high-vacuum conditions.…”