Damage threshold and focusability of mid-infrared free-electron laser pulses gated by a plasma mirror with nanosecond switching pulses

Journal Article · Mon Nov 04 00:00:00 EST 2013 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4828995· OSTI ID:22217796

Wang, Xiaolong; Nakajima, Takashi; Zen, Heishun; Kii, Toshiteru; Ohgaki, Hideaki ^[1]

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1. Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011 (Japan)

The presence of a pulse train structure of an oscillator-type free-electron laser (FEL) results in the immediate damage of a solid target upon focusing. We demonstrate that the laser-induced damage threshold can be significantly improved by gating the mid-infrared FEL pulses with a plasma mirror. Although the switching pulses we employ have a nanosecond duration which does not guarantee the clean wavefront of the gated FEL pulses, the high focusability is experimentally confirmed through the observation of spectral broadening by a factor of 2.1 when we tightly focus the gated FEL pulses onto the Ge plate.

• OSTI ID: 22217796
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 19; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
DAMAGE
FOCUSING
FREE ELECTRON LASERS
LIGHT TRANSMISSION
LINE BROADENING
MIRRORS
OSCILLATORS
PLASMA
PULSES