Search

Results of a study of laser induced damage of ion beam sputtered single layers and capped single layers of Sc2O3, HfO2 and Ta2O5 in a controlled atmosphere and in an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) show the choice of material is paramount to achieving the best performance.

The recent development of a diode-pumped, kilowatt-class average power, high energy picosecond laser is discussed. Its use in pumping high repetition rate soft x-ray lasers and prospects for scaling will be discussed.

A diode-pumped CPA laser based on cryogenically-cooled Yb:YAG amplifiers that produces 1 Joule pulses at repetition rates up to 500Hz with good beam quality was demonstrated and used to pump a table-top soft x-ray laser.

High reflection Ta2O5/SiO2 and HfO2/SiO2 interference coatings that incorporate top thick layers of SiO2 with superior performance are demonstrated for 1-2μm high energy lasers are demonstrated.

We show the threshold fluence for damage of Ta2O5/SiO2 multilayer interference coatings measured using 0.19 ns and 4 ns pulses with λ=1.03 µm can be increased by 2x when modifying the coating’s top layer design.

Laser damage of interference coatings is investigated with 1.6μm wavelength, 2 picosecond pulses from an optical parametric chirped pulse amplification system. 7 J/cm2 damage thresholds are achieved and deviation from conventional damage models is reported.

A diode-pumped cryogenic Yb:YAG CPA laser that produces 1J, 5ps pulses allowed for the first time the uninterrupted generation of 1.8x10^5 sub-20nm wavelength laser pulses with microjoule energy at 100Hz repetition rate on a table-top.

We show that the concentration of oxygen defects trapped in Sc2O3 films by ion beam sputtering can be controlled by modifying deposition conditions. These defects play a role in the optical and structural properties of the thin film metal-oxides.

Compact λ = 13.9 nm and λ = 18.9 nm lasers with record >0.1 mW average power were demonstrated using a 100 Hz repetition rate diode-pumped CPA laser. Successful scaling to λ = 10.9 nm is reported.

We have demonstrated the generation of bright soft x-ray laser pulses with record-high average power from compact plasma amplifiers excited by ultrafast solid state lasers. These lasers have numerous applications in nanoscience and nanotechnology.

We report the highest repetition rate table-top soft x-ray laser, 50Hz. Microjoule-level picosecond laser pulses were produced at λ=18.9nm by amplification in a molybdenum plasma generated by a 1 J diode-pumped chirped-pulse-amplification Yb-YAG laser.

The first soft x-ray laser pumped by laser diodes is reported. Lasing was achieved on the 18.9 nm line of nickel-like molybdenum pumping with a Yb:YAG chirped pulse amplification system with 1 J energy.

We demonstrate a significant increase of the high harmonic cutoff in xenon, krypton and argon ions using a pre-ionized plasma created with a capillary discharge.