Science & Technology - 2017
June
HAPLS Delivered to ELI Beamlines Facility
The LLNL-developed High-repetition-rate Advanced Petawatt Laser System (HAPLS) was delivered to the Extreme Light Infrastructure Beamlines (ELI-Beamlines) Project near Prague in the Czech Republic on June 8.
ELI Beamlines Chief Laser Scientist Bedrich Rus accepts delivery of the disassembled HAPLS beamline. In a tweet celebrating the arrival, ELI Beamlines called the project “a great scientific cooperation between the USA and Czech Republic.” In 2013, ELI-Beamlines contracted Lawrence Livermore National Security to deliver a diode-pumped petawatt laser system capable of running with 10 Hz repetition rate. Today’s petawatt lasers primarily rely on laser technologies using flashlamps, and therefore have been constrained to access commercial and industrial applications that typically require average power levels of kilowatts and beyond, or exploratory research that requires highest pulse fidelity and repeatability. HAPLS combines innovative technologies for thermal management, advanced control systems, optical materials and pulse compressor gratings to enter these new regimes.
Team members Joel Stanley (left) and Jeff Jarboe prepare HAPLS components for shipment to the Czech Republic. Credit: Jason Laurea Work on HAPLS began in the fall of 2013, and in only three years HAPLS was built and successfully passed its final commissioning milestone at LLNL on Christmas 2016 (see “Record-Setting Petawatt Laser Meets Key Milestone”). Integration and commissioning of HAPLS in the ELI Beamlines Facility will begin in the fall.
