POLARIS - A compact, diode-pumped laser system in the Petawatt regime

POLARIS is a compact diode pumped Yb-phosphate glass laser system. It is designed to reach the petawatt regime with a possible repetition frequency of 0.1 Hz. The first three amplifiers of this system are operating, and already constitute an all diode pumped terawatt system. The POLARIS system is designed to have an output of about 150 J in 150 fs, and should be completed in 2006.