Abstract
In order to avoid optical damage and non-linear effects, high-power, high-energy lasers of the petawatt class like PHELIX (petawatt high-energy laser for heavy-ion experiments) use large-aperture optics. Usually, chromatic aberration associated with these optical elements is neglected. By means of numerical simulations, we show how the chromatic aberration affects the focal intensity pattern. In particular, we make quantitative predictions of how chromatic aberration decreases the focused peak intensity. Furthermore, we prove the feasibility of a new interferometer that measures the temporal pulse front distortions which arise from expansion telescopes. We also propose a scheme that pre-compensates these distortions.
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42.65.Re; 42.60.Jf
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Heuck, HM., Neumayer, P., Kühl, T. et al. Chromatic aberration in petawatt-class lasers. Appl. Phys. B 84, 421–428 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-006-2230-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-006-2230-1