Petawatt Excimer Laser Project at Lebedev Physical Institute

The Project of petawatt excimer laser was started at Lebedev Physical Institute (LPI) in collaboration with High‐Current Electronics Institute (HCEI). It utilizes Ti:Sa front‐end to generate 1mJ, 50 fs pulses, frequency conversion into 2ω or 3ω and direct amplification of short pulses in a chain of excimer amplifiers with e‐beam or photochemical pumping. Multi‐terawatt output in 20‐J, subpicosecond pulses at KrF (λ = 248 nm) is projected being combined with 4‐kJ, nanosecond pulses. Petawatt femtosecond pulses at Kr2F (400 nm) might be expected, if transient absorption could be reduced in e‐beam‐pumped gain medium. For photochemically‐pumped XeF amplifiers (480 nm) multi‐petawatt level is attainable with a high temporal contrast.