Laserlab-Europe
CLF - Vulcan

 

Vulcan is a versatile high power laser system that is composed of Nd:glass amplifier chains capable of delivering up to 2.6 kJ of laser energy in long pulses (nanosecond duration) and up to 1 PW (1015 W) peak power in a short pulse (500 fs duration) at 1053 nm.

It currently has 8 beam lines.Two of these beam lines can operate in either short pulse mode or long pulse mode, while the remaining 6 normally operate in a long pulse mode.The short-pulse and long-pulse systems operating jointly can be directed to two different target areas, enabling sophisticated interaction and probing experiments.
 

In its short pulse mode, Vulcan is capable of delivering ultra-high focussed intensities greater than 1021 Wcm-2. To achieve these ultra-high intensities a sub-picosecond pulse is amplified to hundreds of Joules and then focused near to its diffraction limit.

This amplification is achieved by using the technique of chirped pulse amplification (CPA). In this mode, a low intensity pulse is stretched in time from a few hundred femtoseconds to nanoseconds. This pulse is then amplified before being recompressed and focused onto the target producing intensities of 1021 Wcm-2.​​

 

Laser-based light source parameters

Vulcan Beam 7/8 Short pulse

Source type
Ultra-high intensity, short-pulse laser (Nd:Glass)
Peak Photon energy / central wavelenght
1054 [nm]
Spectral Bandwidth FWHM / %
1 [nm]
Tunability
1 [%]
Beam shape
Gaussian
Pulse duration FWHM
1 * 10-12 [as]
Polarisation
Linear Horizontal, Linear Vertical, Circular, Elliptical
Pulse repetition rate
5 * 10-4 [Hz]
Maximum pulse energy
100 [J]
Peak power
1 * 1014 [W]
Special modes
Beam 8 Mode 2 operates at 300J prior to compression for pulse durations of 15ps or longer.
Beam 7 and Beam 8 can be used in long pulse mode in conjunction with the long pulse inner track using a new compressor bypass.
Peak intensity on target
1 * 1020 [W/cm2]

Vulcan Beams 1-6 Long Pulse

Source type
High energy, short-pulse laser (ND:Glass)
Peak Photon energy / central wavelenght
1053 [nm]
Spectral Bandwidth FWHM / %
-1 - 1 [nm]
Tunability
1 [%]
Beam shape
Gaussian
Other beam shape
Focal spot can be shaped with phase plates
Pulse duration FWHM
1 * 10-9 [s]
Polarisation
Linear Horizontal, Linear Vertical
Pulse repetition rate
5 * 10-4 [Hz]
Maximum pulse energy
250 [J]
Peak power
2 * 1011 [W]
Special modes
Maximum pulse energy listed is for 1ns pulse duration. Can achieve 80J in 200ps, 175J in 500ps, 250J in 1ns or 280J in 6ns.
Second harmonic conversion available
The shape of the long pulses could be shaped with a temporal resolution down to 100ps.

Vulcan Petawatt

Source type
Ultra-high intensity, short-pulse laser (Nd:Glass)
Photon energy range / wavelength range
1052 - 1058 [nm]
Peak Photon energy / central wavelenght
1054 [nm]
Spectral Bandwidth FWHM / %
-3 - 3 [nm]
Tunability
1 [%]
Beam shape
Gaussian
Pulse duration FWHM
500 * 10-15 [s]
Polarisation
Linear Horizontal, Linear Vertical, Circular, Elliptical
Pulse repetition rate
5 * 10-4 [Hz]
Maximum pulse energy
600 [J]
Peak power
1 * 1015 [W]
Peak intensity on target
1 * 1021 [W/cm2]
Beam diameter
4 [um]
contacts
Ian Musgrave
Techniques
Photoelectron emission
  • Time-resolved studies
Disciplines
Energy
  • Fusion
Physics
  • Astronomy/Astrophysics/Astroparticles
  • High energy & particle physics
Address
Central Laser Facility, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Campus, Didcot, OX11 0QX, United Kingdom
control/Data analysis
Control Software Type
  • to be completed
Data Output Type
  • to be completed
Data Output Format
  • to be completed