Periodic Reporting for period 1 - THRILL (Technology for High-Repetition-rate Intense Laser Laboratories)
Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2023-12-31
The THRILL project provides new schemes and devices for pushing forward the limits of research infrastructures of European relevance and ESFRI landmarks. Nine partners joined forces not only to work on advancing technology in the field of high-energy high-repetition-rate lasers, but also to train a highly skilled workforce for tomorrow’s challenges in research infrastructures and industry.
THRILL’s objectives outline a comprehensive strategy:
Overcome technical bottlenecks: THRILL focuses on overcoming several technical bottlenecks in high-energy high-repetition-rate laser technology that up to now prevented reaching the technical readiness level required to technically specify and build the needed devices, guaranteeing the sustainable and reliable operation of such laser beamlines at the partnering RIs.
Address enabling technologies: The project addresses three enabling technologies, which require the most urgent efforts and timely attention by the community: high-energy high-repetition-rate amplification, high-energy beam transport and optical coating resilience for large optics.
Produce several prototypes: The major activity within THRILL will be organized around producing several prototypes demonstrating a high level of technical readiness.
Propose concrete steps: The project aims at proposing concrete steps to increase the performances and effectiveness of the industrial community through the co-development of advanced technologies up to prototyping in operational environments.
Train a qualified work force: At last, the project is not only pushing technology, it is also offering an outstanding opportunity to train a highly needed qualified work force for RIs and industry.
With this in mind, the structure of THRILL promotes synergetic work, fast transfer to industry and integrated research activities at the European level.
THRILL’s objectives outline a comprehensive strategy:
Overcome technical bottlenecks: THRILL focuses on overcoming several technical bottlenecks in high-energy high-repetition-rate laser technology that up to now prevented reaching the technical readiness level required to technically specify and build the needed devices, guaranteeing the sustainable and reliable operation of such laser beamlines at the partnering RIs.
Address enabling technologies: The project addresses three enabling technologies, which require the most urgent efforts and timely attention by the community: high-energy high-repetition-rate amplification, high-energy beam transport and optical coating resilience for large optics.
Produce several prototypes: The major activity within THRILL will be organized around producing several prototypes demonstrating a high level of technical readiness.
Propose concrete steps: The project aims at proposing concrete steps to increase the performances and effectiveness of the industrial community through the co-development of advanced technologies up to prototyping in operational environments.
Train a qualified work force: At last, the project is not only pushing technology, it is also offering an outstanding opportunity to train a highly needed qualified work force for RIs and industry.
With this in mind, the structure of THRILL promotes synergetic work, fast transfer to industry and integrated research activities at the European level.
For the past years, at HIBEF (Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields), an infrastructure has been in successfully operation, combining the EuXFEL with several laser systems (RELAX, DiPOLE). However, a strong science case for using a kJ-class laser shows the long-standing interest of developments into this direction. A previous project, which was unfortunately dismissed before completion, has produced plans for a suitable laser building and the conceptual design for integrating a glass laser (mature, but old technology, allowing for 1 shot/h repetition rates). The CDR to be developed within THRILL will be based on this previous work and will be adapted to the higher envisaged repetition rate.
The work to be completed includes the following parts:
· front end strategies for generation of both ns and fs pulse duration
· main amplifier strategies drawing on the results of WP4
· beam transport and beam quality, in particular for the long paths
· optical compression strategy for the short-pulse option
· infrastructure and facility integration strategy
Currently, the human resources for this task are being searched, which proves to be more difficult than expected. Up to now we have worked on first implementation schemes, options where to locate the laser system and facility requirements. A major question will be the choice of the interaction area with respect to space requirements, which is a major constrain of the XFEL facility. The experience gained this year with our high-repetition 100 J system is an important input for further facility requirements for an efficient use of the increased repetition rate.
The work to be completed includes the following parts:
· front end strategies for generation of both ns and fs pulse duration
· main amplifier strategies drawing on the results of WP4
· beam transport and beam quality, in particular for the long paths
· optical compression strategy for the short-pulse option
· infrastructure and facility integration strategy
Currently, the human resources for this task are being searched, which proves to be more difficult than expected. Up to now we have worked on first implementation schemes, options where to locate the laser system and facility requirements. A major question will be the choice of the interaction area with respect to space requirements, which is a major constrain of the XFEL facility. The experience gained this year with our high-repetition 100 J system is an important input for further facility requirements for an efficient use of the increased repetition rate.