V. V. Samarkin, A. G. Alexandrov, I. V. Galaktionov, A. V. Kudryashov, A. N. Nikitin, A. L. Rukosuev, V. V. Toporovsky, Yu. V. Sheldakova, “Large-aperture adaptive optical system for correcting wavefront distortions of a petawatt Ti : sapphire laser beam”, Kvantovaya Elektronika, 2022, Volume 52, Number 2,Pages <nobr>187

This article is cited in 15 papers

Control of laser radiation parameters

Large-aperture adaptive optical system for correcting wavefront distortions of a petawatt Ti : sapphire laser beam

V. V. Samarkin^a, A. G. Alexandrov^a, I. V. Galaktionov^a, A. V. Kudryashov^abc, A. N. Nikitin^a, A. L. Rukosuev^a, V. V. Toporovsky^ab, Yu. V. Sheldakova^ba

^a Sadovsky Institute of Geosphere Dynamics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
^b Moscow Polytechnic University
^c AKA Optics SAS, 2 rue Marc Donadille, 13013 Marseille, France

Abstract: This paper reports a large-aperture adaptive optical system with a bimorph deformable mirror and Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor for aberration correction and beam focusing improvement in state-of-the-art petawatt Ti : sapphire lasers. We consider methods for providing feedback to the wavefront sensor and obtaining an objective wavefront that optimises beam focusing onto a target. The use of an adaptive system with a controlled 127-channel 320-mm-aperture mirror in a Ti : sapphire laser with an output power of 4.2 PW has made it possible to obtain a record high laser beam intensity: 1.1 × 10²³ W cm^–2.

Keywords: adaptive optics, wavefront corrector, deformable mirror, wavefront sensor, reference wavefront, Ti : sapphire laser, beam focusing.

Received: 08.09.2021
Revised: 26.10.2021