Generation of high-energy incoherent ultraviolet pulses with broadband parametric amplification and sum-frequency generation

Instabilities arising during the interaction of high-energy nanosecond laser pulses with targets can be mitigated using broadband incoherent pulses. Generating high-energy pulses with the required bandwidths that have been predicted via modeling, e.g., fractional bandwidth (ratio of bandwidth to central frequency) larger than a few percent, is difficult via laser amplification because of the limited availability of large-aperture laser materials with adequate properties. Broadband parametric amplification and sum-frequency generation have been implemented in the Fourth-generation Laser for Ultrabroadband eXperiments (FLUX) under commissioning at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, with the goal to generate 150-J incoherent pulses with fractional bandwidth of 1.5% at 351 nm. This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy [National Nuclear Security Administration] University of Rochester “National Inertial Confinement Program” under Award Number DE-NA0004144 and the Department of Energy, Office of Science under Award Number DE-SC0021032.