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Space–time characterization of ultra-intense femtosecond laser beams

Nature Photonics volume 10, pages 547–553 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Femtosecond lasers can now deliver ultrahigh intensities at focus, making it possible to induce relativistic motion of charged particles with light and opening the way to new generations of compact particle accelerators and X-ray sources. With diameters of up to tens of centimetres, ultra-intense laser beams tend to suffer from spatiotemporal distortions, that is, a spatial dependence of their temporal properties that can dramatically reduce their peak intensities. At present, however, these intense electromagnetic fields are characterized and optimized in space and time separately. Here, we present the first complete spatiotemporal experimental reconstruction of the field E(t,r) for a 100 TW peak-power laser, and reveal the spatiotemporal distortions that can affect such beams. This new measurement capability opens the way to in-depth characterization and optimization of ultra-intense lasers and ultimately to the advanced control of relativistic motion of matter with femtosecond laser beams structured in space–time.

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Figure 1: Examples of collimated femtosecond laser beams with different STCs.
Figure 2: Consequences of STCs at focus.
Figure 3: Principle of the TERMITES spatiotemporal measurement technique.
Figure 4: Complete reconstructions of the E field of a 100 TW laser beam.
Figure 5: Properties of the laser beam at focus.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank P. d'Oliveira, F. Réau, C. Pothier and D. Garzella for operating the UHI100 laser source. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC grant agreements nos 240013 and 334948). A.B. acknowledges support from the Marie Curie Fellowship EU-FP7-IEF-ALPINE (627856) and G.P. IDEX Paris Saclay for his PhD grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LIDYL, CEA, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, CEA Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91 191, France

    G. Pariente, V. Gallet, A. Borot, O. Gobert & F. Quéré

  2. Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching, D-85748, Germany

    A. Borot

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  1. G. Pariente
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  2. V. Gallet
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Contributions

G.P., V.G. and F.Q. developed the TERMITES technique. G.P. and V.G. built the experimental set-up and G.P. developed the data processing program and analysis/visualization tools with initial contributions from V.G. The measurements were performed and analysed by G.P. and A.B. F.Q. and O.G. supervised the overall work.

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Correspondence to F. Quéré.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Pariente, G., Gallet, V., Borot, A. et al. Space–time characterization of ultra-intense femtosecond laser beams. Nature Photon 10, 547–553 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2016.140

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