TheVulcan laser is aninfrared, 8-beam, petawattneodymium glass laser at theRutherford Appleton Laboratory's Central Laser Facility in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. It was the facility's first operational laser.
It is designed to deliver irradiance on target of 1021 W/cm2 for a wide-ranging experimental programme in fundamental physics and advanced applications. This includes the interaction of super high intensity light with matter, fast ignition fusion research, photon induced nuclear reactions, electron and ion acceleration by light waves, astrophysics in the laboratory and the exploration of the world ofplasma dominated byrelativity.
In 2005 the Vulcan laser was the highest-intensity focussed laser in the world, certified by the Guinness Book of World Records, capable of producing apetawatt laser beam with a focused intensity of 1021 W/cm2.[1]
There are currently two active target areas, Target Area Petawatt and Target Area West, Following the decommission of Target Area East.
Target Area West operates with dual short pulse beamlines delivering intensities of 1019 W/cm2 for pump-probe experiments using F3 focussing optics, other configurations are available.[2]Six long pulse beams can be configured alongside the short pulses in multiple configurations, including single side cluster, cylindrical and spherical compression. The long pulse beams can be operated with pulse lengths from 0.5ns up to 8ns and energy from 50J to 300J per beam. Various pulse configurations can be set, including pre and post pulses.
Target Area Petawatt provides a single short pulse on target with a long pulse beamline, It is configured to deliver the highest intensity via a large parabolic mirror.[3]As with Target Area West, various pulse configurations are possible.
Vulcan can deliver 500J on target in a compressed pulse of 500fs giving a peak irradiance of 1021 W/cm2 in a 5μm focal spot. This performance is not possible solely by Nd:glass amplifiers, since gain narrowing would reduce the pulse bandwidth below a limit required to support the pulse duration.
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