Speaker
Description
The 5-TW long-wave infrared (LWIR) laser at the Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) has been successfully recommissioned following a nearly two-year shutdown undertaken to upgrade the facility to modern safety and operational standards. The system is now ready for the restart of the ATF user program, featuring improved beam quality achieved through the implementation of BaF$_2$ amplifier windows, which offer significantly enhanced environmental stability and mechanical robustness compared to the previously used NaCl optics.
We also discuss a pathway for delivering sub-picosecond pulses to selected experiments via post-compression of the 2-ps output from the CPA CO$_2$ amplifiers. In addition, ongoing R&D efforts toward achieving operation in the 25-TW, 100-fs regime are presented, along with a conceptual vision for a next-generation, optically pumped LWIR facility.
| Working group | WG1 |
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