September 21, 2016

AREAL Laser System Upgrade

The performance of AREAL high energy ultrafast laser system has significantly been improved after the upgrade of phase stabilization and synchronization units of the “t-pulse” laser oscillator at Amplitude Systèmes (France).

The main improvements, achieved after the upgrade, installation and commissioning, include:

  • The IR and UV pulses energy increase,
  • Long-term pulse-to-pulse energy stability,
  • Beam shape and position stability,
  • Reliability and temperature stability of the “t-pulse” synchronization.

In particular, higher energies of IR and UV pulses (1.93 mJ and 365 uJ, respectively) were achieved with a better pulse-to-pulse stability (RMS<0.5% and <0.8%, respectively) during a long-term (>14 hours) laser operation. The beam profile measurements with Spiricon profiler have also shown an improvement from the point of view of both pulse shape and position stability.

The upgrade of the phase stabilization unit of the “t-pulse” has improved the reliability of its synchronization with the AREAL Master Oscillator, which will further improve the stability of the produced electron beams over a longer operation period.