We present results of frequency tripling experiments performed at the Hilase facility on a cryogenically gas cooled multi-slab ytterbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser system, Bivoj/DiPOLE. The laser produces high-energy ns pulses at 10 Hz repetition rate, which are frequency doubled using a type-I phase-matched lithium triborate (LBO) crystal and consequently frequency summed using a type-II phase-matched LBO crystal. We demonstrated a stable frequency conversion to 343 nm at 50 J energy and 10 Hz repetition rate with conversion efficiency of 53%.

A fully automatic fail-safe beam shaping system based on a liquid crystal on a silicon spatial light modulator has been implemented in the high-energy kilowatt-average-power nanosecond laser system Bivoj. The shaping system corrects for gain nonuniformity and wavefront aberrations of the front-end of the system. The beam intensity profile and the wavefront at the output of the front-end were successfully improved by shaping. The beam homogeneity defined by the beam quality parameters was improved two to three times. The root-mean-square value of the wavefront was improved more than 10 times. Consequently, the shaped beam from the second preamplifier led to improvement of the beam profile at the output of the first main cryo-amplifier. The shaping system is also capable of creating nonordinary beam shapes, imprinting cross-references into the beam, or masking certain parts of the beam.

We report on frequency doubling of high-energy, high repetition rate ns pulses from a cryogenically gas cooled multi-slab ytterbium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser system, Bivoj/DiPOLE, using a type-I phase matched lithium triborate crystal. We achieved conversion to 515 nm with energy of 95 J at repetition rate of 10 Hz and conversion efficiency of 79%. High conversion efficiency was achieved due to successful depolarization compensation of the fundamental input beam.

We present a diode-pumped, electro-optically Q-switched Tm:YAG laser with a cryogenically cooled laser crystal at 120 K. Output pulses of up to 2.55 mJ and 650 ns duration were demonstrated in an actively Q-switched configuration with a repetition rate of 1 Hz. By using cavity dumping the pulse duration was shortened to 18 ns with only a slightly lower output energy of 2.22 mJ. Furthermore, using a simplified rate equation model, we discuss design constraints on the pump fluence in a pulse pump approach for Tm:YAG to maximize the energy storage capability at a given pump power.

Development of high energy laser sources with nanosecond pulses at several hertz values for repetition rate has been very attractive in recent years due to their great potential for practical applications. With the recent advancement in fabricating large size laser quality transparent ceramics, diode pumped solid-state laser generating pulse energy of 100 J at 10 Hz has been recently realized at HiLASE center using Yb:YAG ceramic with Cr:YAG cladding. This review discusses Yb based high energy lasers, specific laser geometries for efficient thermal management and the role of transparent ceramics in such diode pumped high-energy-class solid-state lasers around the world.

Faraday effect measurements of holmium oxide (Ho2O3) ceramics-based magneto-optical materials, highly potential material candidates for high-energy laser Faraday isolators, are presented in this paper. Temperature dependence of the Verdet constant of nondoped Ho2O3 ceramics was measured for temperatures 15–305 K at $1.064~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ wavelength. The Verdet constant dispersion for wavelengths 0.5–$1~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ and $1.064~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ was measured for both nondoped Ho2O3 ceramics and Ho2O3 ceramics doped with terbium Tb3+ (0.2 at. %) and cerium Ce3+ (0.1 at. %) ions. The results suggest that the relatively low level of doping of Ho2O3 with these ions has no significant boosting impact on the Faraday effect. Therefore, other compositions of Ho2O3 ceramics-based magneto-optical materials, as well as various doping concentrations, should be further examined.

We present the workflow of the design, realization and testing of deformable mirrors suitable for high power diode pumped solid-state lasers. It starts with the study of the aberration to be corrected, and then it continues with the design of the actuators position and characteristic. In this paper, we present and compare three deformable mirrors realized for multi-J level laser facilities. We show that with the same design concept it is possible to realize deformable mirrors for other types of lasers. As an example, we report the realization of a deformable mirror for femtosecond lasers and for a CW $\text{CO}_{2}$ laser.

Further advancement of high-energy pulsed lasers requires a parallel development of appropriate optical components. Several different optical components, such as mirrors and antireflection-coated windows, which are essential for the design of HiLASE high average power lasers were tested. The following paper summarizes results on the measurements of laser-induced damage threshold of such components, and clearly shows their capabilities and limitations for such a demanding application.

We investigated the expansion dynamics of laser-produced plasmas expanding into an axial magnetic field. Plasmas were generated by focusing 1.064 μm Nd:YAG laser pulses onto a planar tin target in vacuum and allowed to expand into a 0.5 T magnetic field where the field lines were aligned along the plume expansion direction. Gated images employing an intensified charge-coupled device showed focusing of the plasma plume, which were also compared with results, obtained using particle-in-cell modeling methods. The estimated density and temperature of the plasma plumes employing emission spectroscopy revealed significant changes in the presence and absence of the 0.5 T magnetic field. In the presence of the field, the electron temperature is increased with distance from the target, while the density showed opposite effects.

A preliminary investigation on short-wavelength ablation mechanisms of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly (1,4-phenylene ether ether-sulfone) (PPEES) by extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation at 13.5 nm using a table-top laser-produced plasma from a gas-puff target at LLG (Göttingen) and at 46.9 nm by a 10 Hz desktop capillary discharge laser operated at the Institute of Physics (Prague) is presented. Ablation of polymer materials is initiated by photo-induced polymer chain scissions. The ablation occurs due to the formation of volatile products by the EUV radiolysis removed as an ablation plume from the irradiated material into the vacuum. In general, cross-linking of polymer molecules can compete with the chain decomposition. Both processes may influence the efficiency and quality of micro(nano)structuring in polymer materials. Wavelength is a critical parameter to be taken into account when an EUV ablation process occurs, because different wavelengths result in different energy densities in the near-surface region of the polymer exposed to nanosecond pulses of intense EUV radiation.

We present the results of performance modeling of a diode-pumped solid-state HiLASE laser designed for use in inertial fusion energy power plants. The main amplifier concept is based on a He-gas-cooled multi-slab architecture similar to that employed in Mercury laser system. Our modeling quantifies the reduction of thermally induced phase aberrations and average depolarization in ${\mathrm{Yb}}^{{3+}}$:YAG slabs by a combination of helium cryogenic cooling and properly designed (doping/width) cladding materials.

We present a three-dimensional code for the optimization of energy storage, heat deposition, and amplification in square-shaped laser slabs and multi-slab laser amplifiers. The influence of the slab dimensions, slab face and edge reflectivities, pump parameters, and operating temperature on amplified spontaneous emission and stored energy has been investigated. The multi-slab and single-slab configurations are compared, analyzing in detail the influence of the absorption cladding for the suppression of amplified spontaneous emission radiation.

We report on the investigation of strong radiative shocks generated with the high energy, sub-nanosecond iodine laser at PALS. These shock waves are characterized by a developed radiative precursor and their dynamics is analyzed over long time scales (~50 ns), approaching a quasi-stationary limit. We present the first preliminary results on the rear side XUV spectroscopy. These studies are relevant to the understanding of the spectroscopic signatures of accretion shocks in Classical T Tauri Stars.

Radiative shock waves are observed around astronomical objects in a wide variety of environments, for example, they herald the birth of stars and sometimes their death. Such shocks can also be created in the laboratory, for example, by using energetic lasers. In the astronomical case, each observation is unique and almost fixed in time, while shocks produced in the laboratory and by numerical simulations can be reproduced, and investigated in greater detail. The combined study of experimental and computational results, as presented here, becomes a unique and powerful probe to understanding radiative shock physics. Here we show the first experiment on radiative shock performed at the PALS laser facility. The shock is driven by a piston made from plastic and gold in a cell filled with xenon at 0.2 bar. During the first 40 ns of the experiment, we have traced the radiative precursor velocity, that is showing a strong decrease at that stage. Three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulations, including state-of-art opacities, seem to indicate that the slowing down of the precursor is consistent with a radiative loss, induced by a transmission coefficient of about 60% at the walls of the cell. We infer that such 3D radiative effects are governed by the lateral extension of the shock wave, by the value of the opacity, and by the reflection on the walls. Further investigations will be required to quantify the relative importance of each component on the shock properties.