“We expect to complete this 10-petawatt laser by the end of 2013, but first, many technical problems need to be solved,” says Jean Paul Chambaret. Among these challenges are obtaining new diffraction gratings, components that split light, as well as using a new type of crystal that can withstand the necessary light pulses. Large solid-state lasers are based on a titanium-sapphire crystal, but for the new, larger laser, “a larger crystal is needed.”

The project, which will be launched near Paris, requires a laser “that is itself pumped by another, more conventional one, but that is also very complicated at these extremes of technology.” Therefore, he notes that “the current limit is in the petawatt range, like the one in Salamanca, but the 10-petawatt laser will be the most powerful in the world.”

One of the goals of the ILE (Institute of Light Engineering) is for it to serve as the prototype for the 100-petawatt lasers of the major European project Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI), an initiative involving 13 countries that seeks to push the boundaries of physics. “To make that leap and reach 100-petawatt technology, we have to proceed step by step, and the next phase is to build a 10-petawatt system,” which is the one they are currently designing.

Higher firing rates mean more applications.
Regarding the Villamayor laser, “it will be operational before the French project, and each has unique characteristics when the technology is analyzed,” the expert points out. They are pulsed lasers, and the firing rate is the most important factor. The Salamanca laser will fire once per second, while the French one will fire approximately every 10 seconds.

The reason is that the initiative to be launched with the Center for Ultra-Intense Ultrashort Pulsed Lasers (CLPU) seeks specific scientific applications, for example, in the field of medicine, while the French project, and consequently the large European ELI project, is geared towards a more basic type of research.

“The application requires a higher firing rate; we need to build systems with higher firing frequencies,” the specialist explains. However, the goal of the Institut de Lumière Extreme is to achieve a system for validating technologies and contributing new knowledge to physics. “These are cutting-edge systems that have never been reached before. We expect what will happen, but we don't know for sure. It's about demonstrating physical concepts,” he points out.

Salamanca, an international benchmark
. The construction of a petawatt laser in Spain will be a benchmark for researchers, as demonstrated by the presence in Salamanca of the world's leading groups working with laser technology. Thanks to this project, “the scientific community using advanced lasers, as well as the existing knowledge of lasers and their applications, is growing,” he points out.
According to experts, these types of projects, both the one in Salamanca and the French one, undergo significant technological evolution from their initial design to their final implementation. This period can last four or five years, and the technology at the beginning and end will differ because knowledge has increased. “These are dynamic, living projects; it's not static technology. That's one of the reasons for this congress,” notes Luis Roso, director of the CLPU in Salamanca.
Source: DiCYT