10 petawatt lasers for extreme light applications

We report the generation of unprecedented 10 PetaWatt laser pulses obtained from each of the two beamlines of the High Power Laser System (HPLS) of ELI-NP (Extreme Light Infrastructure – Nuclear Physics) research infrastructure. The laser system is a hybrid system made of a double CPA based on amplification within Titanium Sapphire crystals combined with an OPCPA with a parametric amplification stage boosting the energy to 10 mJ at the entrance of the second CPA. A XPW filter is also inserted between the two CPA and in combination with the OPCPA improves the temporal contrast of the pulses by typically 7 orders of magnitude. The spectral effects occurring during amplification such as gain narrowing and wavelength shifting are compensated through the use of spectral filters. Final amplification stages are involving large aperture Ti:Sapphire crystals (up to 200 mm) which are pumped by high energy frequencydoubled Nd:Glass lasers delivering each 100 J of green light. Laser beams have been amplified respectively up to 332 J and to 342 J of pulse energy at 1 shot per minute without any occurrence of ASE and transverse lasing thanks to index matching fluid surrounding the crystal over is entire length and pump deposition management over the time before each beam pass within the Ti:Sapphire crystal. We have demonstrated full aperture compression by metric gratings of these amplified pulses down to 22.6 fs and therefore made the full demonstration for the first time ever of 10 PW capability from a laser system.