Fig. 1. The E3 experimental hall for plasma physics and beam configurations. The L4n pulse (1.9 kJ, 0.5 ns–10 ns, 1053 nm) is shown in pink. Three other beams will also be available in E3: L4f (1.5 kJ, 150 fs, 1053 nm), L4p (available in 2022) (150 J–400 J, 150 fs to 150 ps, 1053 nm), and L3 (30 J, 30 fs, 800 nm, 10 Hz).

Fig. 2. Schematic of the L4 ATON laser in the high-power non-CPA configuration.

Fig. 3. Layout of the compressor imaging system (CIS) with its optical scheme in the chirped pulse beamline (a) and with the M4.5 mirror position defined from Zemax OpticStudio simulations (b).

Fig. 4. (a) Design of the L4n beamline in the E3 experimental hall. The L4n beam is shown in pink up to the frequency-doubling KDP crystal. The converted 2ω beam is then shown in green. (b) Optical layout extracted from Zemax OpticStudio simulations.

Fig. 5. (a) Diffraction-limited focal spot with 0.2° lens tilt and 1 W input power in a square beam. (b) Focal spot with 0.42° lens tilt and 1 W input power in a square beam.

Fig. 6. Calculated KDP crystal conversion efficiency to second harmonic with 1 kJ as energy input.

Fig. 7. (a) Focal spot intensity profile (arbitrary units) simulated using wave front data from one of the phase plates. (b) Horizontal slice of the intensity profile.

Fig. 8. The left panels show laser pulse temporal profiles providing access to the Hugoniot adiabat and far-from-Hugoniot states. The right panels show the corresponding trajectories in the phase plane P–ρ. (a) Steady and quasi-isentropic compression. (b) Decaying shock and ramp compression. (c) Double shock. Adapted from Refs. 39,40.

Fig. 9. Configurations for multibeam experiments with L4n (green) and L3 (yellow) pulses: (a) long-focal-length (5 m) configuration in which L3 is focused in a gas jet and generates relativistic electrons and broadband hard X-rays at an angle of 112° with respect to the L4n beam; (b) short-focal-length (f = 750 mm) configuration in which the L3 pulse is focused by an off-axis parabola (OAP) at an angle of 58° with respect to the L4n beam.

Table 1. Overview of the current performance of major high-energy laser facilities in a long-pulse configuration listing the name of the installation, the operating entity, the laser wavelength in nanometers, the maximum energy available per shot, and the operating repetition rate.⁷

Table 2. L4n laser specifications.

Table 3. Requirements on the nominal L4n design.

Table 4. Main specifications of frequency-doubling KDP crystal.