Characterization and performance of the Apollon short-focal-area facility following its commissioning at 1 PW level

K. Burdonov (1) , A. Fazzini (1) , V. Lelasseux (1) , J. Albrecht (1) , P. Antici (2) , Y. Ayoul (1) , A. Beluze (1) , D. Cavanna (1) , T. Ceccotti (3) , M. Chabanis (1) , A. Chaleil (4) , S. N. Chen (5) , Z. Chen (5) , F. Consoli (6) , M. Cuciuc (5) , X. Davoine (4) , J. Delaneau (1) , E. D’humières (7) , J.-L. Dubois (7) , C. Evrard (1) , E. Filippov (8) , A. Freneaux (1) , P. Forestier-Colleoni (1) , L. Gremillet (4) , V. Horny (1, 4) , L. Lancia (1) , L. Lecherbourg (4) , N. Lebas (1) , A. Leblanc (9) , W. Ma (10) , L. Martin (1) , F. Negoita (5) , J.-L. Paillard (1) , D. Papadopoulos (1) , F. Perez (1) , S. Pikuz (11) , G. Qi (9) , F. Quéré (3) , L. Ranc (12, 1, 13) , P.-A. Söderström (1) , M. Scisciò (1) , S. Sun (1) , S. Vallières (14) , P. Wang (10) , W. Yao (1) , F. Mathieu (1) , P. Audebert (1) , J. Fuchs (1)

1 LULI - Laboratoire pour l'utilisation des lasers intenses
2 EMT-INRS - Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications - INRS
3 LIDyl - Laboratoire Interactions, Dynamiques et Lasers (ex SPAM)
4 LMCE - Laboratoire Matière sous Conditions Extrêmes
5 NIPNE - Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering
6 ENEA - Italian National agency for new technologies, Energy and sustainable economic development [Frascati]
7 CELIA - Centre d'Etudes Lasers Intenses et Applications
8 IAP - A.M.Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics
9 LOA - Laboratoire d'optique appliquée
10 Peking University [Beijing]
11 JIHT - Joint Institute for High Temperatures of the RAS
12 Laboratoire Charles Fabry / Lasers
13 Thales LAS France
14 INRS - Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique [Québec]

We present the results of the first commissioning phase of the short-focal-length area of the Apollon laser facility (located in Saclay, France), which was performed with the first available laser beam (F2), scaled to a nominal power of 1 PW. Under the conditions that were tested, this beam delivered on-target pulses of 10 J average energy and 24 fs duration. Several diagnostics were fielded to assess the performance of the facility. The on-target focal spot and its spatial stability, the temporal intensity profile prior to the main pulse, and the resulting density gradient formed at the irradiated side of solid targets have been thoroughly characterized, with the goal of helping users design future experiments. Emissions of energetic electrons, ions, and electromagnetic radiation were recorded, showing good laser-to-target coupling efficiency and an overall performance comparable to that of similar international facilities. This will be followed in 2022 by a further commissioning stage at the multi-petawatt level.

Domains: Physics [physics]

K. Burdonov, A. Fazzini, V. Lelasseux, J. Albrecht, P. Antici, et al.. Characterization and performance of the Apollon short-focal-area facility following its commissioning at 1 PW level. Matter and Radiation at Extremes, 2021, 6 (6), pp.064402. ⟨10.1063/5.0065138⟩. ⟨hal-03770827⟩