Abstract
Laser redirection by cross-beam power transfer in a plasma is an important example of a nonlinear optics process which uses laser–plasma instabilities to one’s advantage. We have demonstrated this in a hohlraum plasma at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. A four-wave mixing process causes laser power in multiple beams to change direction and add to the laser power of a selected beam. The process is controlled by setting the wavelength separation of the interacting laser beams. This technique provides a method to remotely re-point or combine high-powered laser beams without the need of local optical apparatus.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Schuster, A. An Introduction to the Theory of Optics 41 (Edward Arnold, 1904).
Glenzer, S. H. et al. Experiments and multiscale simulations of laser propagation through ignition-scale plasmas. Nature Phys. 3, 716–719 (2007).
Yanovsky, V. P., Perry, M. D., Brown, C. G., Feit, M. D. & Rubenchik, A. Conference proceedings, UCRL-JC–127730, http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/servlets/purl/641764-EfHc0H/webviewable/.
Kruer, W. L., Wilks, S. C., Afeyan, B. B. & Kirkwood, Robert K. Energy transfer between crossing laser beams. Phys. Plasmas 3, 382–385 (1996).
Eliseev, V. V., Rozmus, W., Tikhonchuk, V. T. & Capjack, C. E. Interaction of crossed laser beams with plasmas. Phys. Plasmas 3, 2215–2217 (1996).
Michel, P. et al. Tuning the implosion symmetry of ICF targets via controlled crossed-beam energy transfer. Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 025004 (2009).
Liu, Y. et al. Energy exchange between femtosecond laser filaments in air. Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 055003 (2010).
Malkin, V. M., Shvets, G. & Fisch, N. J. Fast compression of laser beams to highly overcritical powers. Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 4448–4451 (1999).
Ping, Y. et al. Development of a nanosecond-laser-pumped Raman amplifier for short laser pulses in plasma. Phys. Plasmas 16, 123113 (2009).
Labaune, C. et al. Enhanced forward scattering in the case of two crossed laser beams interacting with a plasma. Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 1658–1661 (2000).
Kirkwood, R. K. et al. Observation of energy transfer between frequency-mismatched laser beams in a large-scale plasma. Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 2065–2068 (1996).
Wharton, K. B. et al. Observation of energy transfer between identical-frequency laser beams in a flowing plasma. Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 2248–2251 (1998).
Glenzer, S. H. et al. Symmetric inertial confinement fusion implosions at ultra-high laser energies. Science 327, 1228–1231 (2010).
Michel, P. et al. Symmetry tuning via controlled crossed-beam energy transfer on the National Ignition Facility. Phys. Plasmas 17, 056305 (2010).
Meezan, N. B. et al. National Ignition Campaign Hohlraum energetics. Phys. Plasmas 17, 056304 (2010).
Town, R. P. J. et al. Analysis of the National Ignition Facility ignition hohlraum energetics experiments. Phys. Plasmas 18, 056302 (2011).
Kyrala, G. A. et al. Symmetry tuning for ignition capsules via the symcap technique. Phys. Plasmas 18, 056307 (2011).
Michel, P. et al. Three-wavelength scheme to optimize hohlraum coupling on the National Ignition Facility. Phys. Rev. E 83, 046409 (2011).
Moses, E. I. & Wuest, C. I. The National Ignition Facility: Laser performance and first experiments. Fusion Sci. Tech. 47, 314–322 (2005).
Haan, S. W. et al. Design and modeling of ignition targets for the National Ignition Facility. Phys. Plasmas 2, 2480–2487 (1995).
Lindl, J. D. Development of the indirect drive approach to inertial confinement fusion and the target physics basis for ignition and gain. Phys. Plasmas 2, 3933–4024 (1995).
Moody, J. D. et al. Backscatter measurements for NIF ignition targets. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 81, 10D921–10D926 (2010).
Dewald, E. L. et al. Dante soft X-ray power diagnostic for National Ignition Facility. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 75, 3759–3761 (2004).
Kline, J. L. et al. Observation of high soft X-Ray drive in large-scale hohlraums at the National Ignition Facility. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 085003 (2011).
Glenn, S. et al. A hardened gated X-ray imaging diagnostic for inertial confinement fusion experiments at the National Ignition Facility. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 81, 10E539–10E532 (2010).
Kyrala, G. A. et al. Measuring symmetry of implosions in cryogenic hohlraums at the NIF using gated x-ray detectors. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 81, 10E316–10E323 (2010).
Dewald, E. L. et al. Hot electron measurements in ignition relevant hohlraums on the National Ignition Facility. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 81, 10D938–10D940 (2010).
Trines, R. M. G. M. Simulations of efficient Raman amplification into the multipetawatt regime. Nature Phys. 7, 87–92 (2011).
Clark, D. S. & Fisch, N. J. Operating regime for a backward Raman laser amplifier in preformed plasma. Phys. Plasmas 10, 3363–3370 (2003).
Glenzer, S. H. et al. Demonstration of ignition radiation temperatures in indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion hohlraums. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 085004 (2011).
Acknowledgements
This work was performed under the auspices of the US Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
The project was planned by S.H.G., P.M., B.J.M., L.D. and E.I.M. The experiment was designed by P.M., L.D., S.H.G., D.A.C., and C.H. The experiment was carried out by S.H.G., P.M., J.D.M., J.L.K., S.D., G.A.K., C.H. and D.K.B. Target fabrication was carried out by A.H. and A.N. The data were analysed by J.D.M., P.M., L.D., E.B., D.K.B., E.L.D., S.G., N.I., G.A.K., N.B.M., M.B.S. and K.W. Simulations were carried out by R.P.J.T. and O.J.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Moody, J., Michel, P., Divol, L. et al. Multistep redirection by cross-beam power transfer of ultrahigh-power lasers in a plasma. Nature Phys 8, 344–349 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2239
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2239
This article is cited by
-
Mitigation of laser plasma parametric instabilities with broadband lasers
Reviews of Modern Plasma Physics (2022)
-
The Magnetized Indirect Drive Project on the National Ignition Facility
Journal of Fusion Energy (2022)
-
Impact of the Langdon effect on crossed-beam energy transfer
Nature Physics (2020)
-
Plasma-based beam combiner for very high fluence and energy
Nature Physics (2018)
-
Orbital angular momentum mode division filtering for photon-phonon coupling
Scientific Reports (2017)