Adaptive optics at the PHELIX laser
2007
GSI Darmstadt currently builds a high-energy petawatt Nd:glass laser system, called PHELIX (Petawatt High-Energy Laser for Heavy-Ion Experiments). PHELIX will offer the world-wide unique combination of a high current, high-energy heavy-ion beam with an intense laser beam. Aberrations due to the beam transport and
due to the amplification process limit the focusability and the intensity at the target. We have investigated the
aberrations of the different amplification stages. The pre-amplifier stage consists of three rod-amplifiers which
cause mainly defocus, but also a small part of coma and astigmatism. The main amplifier consists of five disk
amplifiers with a clear aperture of 315 mm. These large
disk-amplifiers cause pump-shot aberrations which occur
instantly. After a shot, the disk amplifiers need a cooling time of several hours to relax to their initial state.
This limits the repetition rate and causes long-term aberrations. We will present first measurements of the
pump-shot and long-term aberrations caused by the pre- and the main amplifier in a single-pass configuration.
In this context, we will present the adaptive optics system which is implemented in the PHELIX beam line and
discuss its capability to compensate for the pump-shot and long-term aberrations.
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