High average power ultrafast laser technologies for driving future advanced accelerators
Abstract
Large scale laser facilities are needed to advance the energy frontier in high energy physics and accelerator physics. Laser plasma accelerators are core to advanced accelerator concepts aimed at reaching TeV electron electron colliders. In these facilities, intense laser pulses drive plasmas and are used to accelerate electrons to high energies in remarkably short distances. A laser plasma accelerator could in principle reach high energies with an accelerating length that is 1000 times shorter than in conventional RF based accelerators. Notionally, laser driven particle beam energies could scale beyond state of the art conventional accelerators. LPAs have produced multi GeV electron beams in about 20 cm with relative energy spread of about 2 percent, supported by highly developed laser technology. This validates key elements of the US DOE strategy for such accelerators to enable future colliders but extending best results to date to a TeV collider will require lasers with higher average power. While the per pulse energies envisioned for laser driven colliders are achievable with current lasers, low laser repetition rates limit potential collider luminosity. Applications will require rates of kHz to tens of kHz at Joules of energy and high efficiency, and a collider would require about 100 such stages, a leap from current Hz class LPAs. This represents a challenging 1000 fold increase in laser repetition rates beyond current state of the art. This whitepaper describes current research and outlook for candidate laser systems as well as the accompanying broadband and high damage threshold optics needed for driving future advanced accelerators.
Authors 36
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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , Livermore , CA , USA
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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley , CA , USA
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Affiliation as printed
University of Rochester , Laboratory for Laser Energetics , Rochester , NY , USA
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University of Rochester , Laboratory for Laser Energetics , Rochester , NY , USA
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Affiliation as printed
University of Central Florida , Orlando , FL , USA
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Affiliation as printed
University of Rochester , Laboratory for Laser Energetics , Rochester , NY , USA
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University of Central Florida , Orlando , FL , USA
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Affiliation as printed
Ohio State University , Columbus , OH , USA
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The University of Texas at Austin
Affiliation as printed
University of Texas Austin , Austin , TX , USA
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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Affiliation as printed
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley , CA , USA
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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Affiliation as printed
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley , CA , USA
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Affiliation as printed
University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , MI , USA
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Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology
Affiliation as printed
Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology , Germany
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Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology
Affiliation as printed
Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology , Germany
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University of California, Los Angeles
Affiliation as printed
University of California Los Angeles , Los Angeles , CA , USA
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Affiliation as printed
nLight Inc. , Vancouver , WA , USA
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Raytum Photonics (United States)
Affiliation as printed
Raytum Photonics LLC , Sterling , VA , USA
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Affiliation as printed
Colorado State University , Fort Collins , CO , USA
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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Affiliation as printed
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , Livermore , CA , USA
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University of Alabama at Birmingham
Affiliation as printed
University of Alabama at Birmingham , Birmingham , AL , USA
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Brookhaven National Laboratory
Affiliation as printed
Brookhaven National Laboratory. Upton , NY , USA
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Brookhaven National Laboratory
Affiliation as printed
Brookhaven National Laboratory. Upton , NY , USA
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Brookhaven National Laboratory
Affiliation as printed
Brookhaven National Laboratory. Upton , NY , USA
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Affiliation as printed
University of Rochester , Laboratory for Laser Energetics , Rochester , NY , USA
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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Affiliation as printed
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , Livermore , CA , USA
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Affiliation as printed
Colorado State University , Fort Collins , CO , USA
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Northrop Grumman (United States)
Affiliation as printed
Northrop Grumman , Redondo Beach , CA , USA
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Affiliation as printed
Few Cycle, Inc. , Varennes , QC , Canada
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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Affiliation as printed
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , Livermore , CA , USA
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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Affiliation as printed
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , Livermore , CA , USA
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University of California, Los Angeles
Affiliation as printed
University of California Los Angeles , Los Angeles , CA , USA
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Affiliation as printed
Stony Brook University , Stony Brook , NY , USA
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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Affiliation as printed
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley , CA , USA
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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Affiliation as printed
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley , CA , USA
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Affiliation as printed
University of Rochester , Laboratory for Laser Energetics , Rochester , NY , USA
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Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Affiliation as printed
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley , CA , USA
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