BELLA Petawatt Laser for Ultrahigh-Intensity High Energy Density Physics within LaserNetUS
POSTER
Abstract
In this presentation, we will report on the status of HEDP at the BELLA petawatt facility with a large laser spot beamline (f$\backslash $65, \textasciitilde 1019 W/cm2). Based on accelerated ion beams with a strongly reduced divergence and increased charge, we built an all-plasma-based beamline for controlled material processing and radiobiological studies. We will give an outlook on science enabled by a short-focal length (f$\backslash $2.5) laser beamline that is currently under construction. The new short-focal length beamline will be equipped with a re-collimating double-plasma mirror to study laser-plasma interactions at the highest temporal contrast and intensities \textgreater 1021 W/cm2 with a repetition rate up to 1 Hz, enabling, e.g., ion acceleration experiments with energies at the 100 MeV level. The BELLA center is part of LaserNetUS providing access to domestic and international users.
*The work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231 and by LaserNetUS (https://www.lasernetus.org/).