Concept study of a 100-PW femtosecond laser based on laser ceramics doped with chromium ions

A new concept of a superpowerful femtosecond laser based on CPA in polycrystalline chromium doped ceramics (Cr:YAG, Cr:YSGG, etc.) pumped by a Nd:glass laser is proposed. In contrast to amplifiers in available petawatt laser systems (neodymium glass, titanium-doped sapphire, and parametric amplifiers with a DKDP crystal), these ceramics combine three key favorable properties: a large gain bandwidth to amplify chirped pulses with less than 20-fs durations, a wide aperture to amplify chirped pulses to the multikilojoule level, and a high conversion efficiency of narrowband Nd:glass laser pulses into chirped pulses. These properties open up the opportunity to create a unique laser with a peak power of 100 PW at a 10-kJ pump power.