Four facets replaced by two: physicists from IPFRAN found a way to double superlaser power, making its core cheaper

Scientists from the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IPF RAS) have proposed a radical simplification of one of the main parts of high-power lasers. As reported by TASS in the institute's press service, specialists abandoned the standard optical compressor scheme of four diffraction gratings, leaving only two and changing their relative positions. This allows bypassing the main bottleneck – the low resistance of the gratings themselves to radiation, due to which physicists have to artificially restrain the power ceiling.

In practical terms, the new geometry makes it possible to increase the output beam parameters by 1.5–2 times on the same installations without the risk of destroying expensive elements.

As explained by Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, senior researcher at the Department of Nonlinear and Laser Optics of IPF RAS Efim Khazanov, the development not only increases power but also reduces the cost of the compressor itself – a key component of a femtosecond laser, where the pulse is compressed to picoseconds. The scheme is suitable for both new systems under construction and for modernizing already launched complexes.

If the novelty is implemented in the Russian XCELS project, its peak power could soar to 100 petawatts. This is a step towards creating exawatt systems capable of igniting thermonuclear reactions and studying the structure of vacuum.