Recirculation injection by nonlinear gating for high-power laser pulses

Igor Jovanovic; Miro Shverdin; David Gibson; Curtis Brown

doi:10.1117/12.761037

15 February 2008 Recirculation injection by nonlinear gating for high-power laser pulses

Igor Jovanovic, Miro Shverdin, David Gibson, Curtis Brown

Proceedings Volume 6881, Commercial and Biomedical Applications of Ultrafast Lasers VIII; 68810F (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.761037
Event: Lasers and Applications in Science and Engineering, 2008, San Jose, California, United States

Abstract

The average power and efficiency of processes that exhibit low interaction cross section and low optical loss can often be enhanced by recirculating the laser pulse in the cavity. Inverse Compton scattering of the photon pulse on an electron bunch, harmonic generation, and spectroscopy represent examples of such processes. Methods for laser recirculation that enhance the interaction efficiency have been proposed in the past, based on resonant cavity coupling, intracavity amplification, or electro-optical switching. Those methods exhibit limitations such as interferometric alignment accuracies, complexity, and nonlinear phase accumulation. A novel scheme for energetic short laser pulse recirculation, termed recirculation injection by nonlinear gating (RING), is described. RING is based on intracavity nonlinear frequency conversion for optical switching, does not exhibit interferometric alignment constraints, and is scalable to extreme peak power. Initial demonstration of the RING technique is presented at a 1-mJ level, with cavity enhancement factors exceeding 25 in a simple unstable resonator cavity. Applications of the RING technique in biomedical and other applications are outlined.

Citation Download Citation

Igor Jovanovic, Miro Shverdin, David Gibson, and Curtis Brown "Recirculation injection by nonlinear gating for high-power laser pulses", Proc. SPIE 6881, Commercial and Biomedical Applications of Ultrafast Lasers VIII, 68810F (15 February 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.761037

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available