Abstract The ELI ERIC facility offers international users ultrashort laser sources via the ALPS facility focusing on few-cycle laser drivers for attosecond pulses, particle beams and ultrahigh intensity interactions. The HR1 system supports attosecond high harmonic generation (HHG) and time-resolved spectroscopy at 100 kHz. However, its high repetition rate, while aiding statistical analysis, poses thermal challenges and limits certain applications requiring lower repetition rates. To address this, the HR Alignment laser system was developed for the HHG beamline at the ELI-ALPS facility. This new system delivers sub-6 fs, 1 mJ pulses with a tunable repetition rate (from 10 Hz to 10 kHz) and carrier-envelope phase (CEP) stabilization. It utilizes an ytterbium-doped potassium gadolinium tungstate front-end, multi-pass cell compression, and chirped mirrors. Characterization confirms excellent energy and CEP stability (below 300 mrad), beam quality and temporal contrast, matching the HR1 laser’s performance. This compact, stable system provides high-flux attosecond generation for reaction microscopy enhancing ultrafast research in the ELI-ALPS facility.

Abstract An advanced deformable Kirkpatrick–Baez (K-B) mirror system was developed, equipped with high-speed piezoelectric actuators, and designed to induce beam decoherence and significantly enhance the quality of X-ray imaging by minimizing undesirable speckles in synchrotron radiation or free-electron laser facilities. Each individual mirror is engineered with 36 independent piezoelectric actuators that operate in a randomized manner, orchestrating the mirror surface to oscillate at a high frequency up to 100 kHz. Through in situ imaging single-slit diffraction measurement, it has been demonstrated that this high-frequency-vibration mirror system is pivotal in disrupting the coherent nature, thereby diminishing speckle formation. The impact of the K-B mirror system is profound, with the capability to reduce the image contrast to as low as 0.04, signifying a substantial reduction in speckle visibility. Moreover, the coherence of the X-ray beam is significantly lowered from an initial value exceeding 80% to 13%.

Abstract We report the generation of intense deep ultraviolet pulses at 200 nm with a duration of 48 fs and a pulse energy of 130 μJ, achieved via cascaded sum-frequency generation using 800 nm femtosecond pulses in barium borate crystals. Efficient frequency up-conversion is realized by optimizing phase-matching conditions and implementing dispersion control, while maintaining the ultrashort pulse characteristics. The generated deep ultraviolet pulses are characterized using two-photon absorption frequency-resolved optical gating, providing detailed insight into their temporal profile and phase. This approach addresses key challenges in ultrashort deep ultraviolet pulse generation, delivering a high-energy, ultrashort source suitable for ultrafast spectroscopy, nonlinear optics and strong-field physics. These results represent a significant advancement in the generation of high-energy, ultrashort deep ultraviolet pulses, opening up new possibilities for time-resolved investigations in ultrafast molecular dynamics, as well as emerging applications in semiconductor science, quantum materials and photochemistry.

Abstract To overcome Yb lasing, a kilowatt-level 1535 nm fiber laser is utilized to in-band pump an Er:Yb co-doped fiber (EYDF) amplifier. The output power of a 301 W narrow-linewidth EYDF amplifier operating at 1585 nm, with 3 dB bandwidth of 150 pm and ${M}^2$ < 1.4, is experimentally demonstrated. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest output power achieved in L-band narrow-linewidth fiber amplifiers with good beam quality. Theoretically, a new ion transition behavior among energy levels for in-band pumping EYDF is uncovered, and a spatial-mode-resolved nonlinearity-assisted theoretical model is developed to understand its internal dynamics. Numerical simulations reveal that the reduction in slope efficiency is significantly related to excited-state absorption (ESA). ESA has a nonlinear hindering effect on power scaling. It can drastically lower the pump absorption and slope efficiency with increasing pump power for in-band pumped EYDF amplifiers. Meanwhile, optimized approaches are proposed to improve its power to the kilowatt level via in-band pumping.

Abstract A high-energy pulsed vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) solid-state laser at 177 nm with high peak power by the sixth harmonic of a neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) amplifier in a KBe2BO3F2 prism-coupled device was demonstrated. The ultraviolet (UV) pump laser is a 352 ps pulsed, spatial top-hat super-Gaussian beam at 355 nm. A high energy of a 7.12 mJ VUV laser at 177 nm is obtained with a pulse width of 255 ps, indicating a peak power of 28 MW, and the conversion efficiency is 9.42% from 355 to 177 nm. The measured results fitted well with the theoretical prediction. It is the highest pulse energy and highest peak power ever reported in the VUV range for any solid-state lasers. The high-energy, high-peak-power, and high-spatial-uniformity VUV laser is of great interest for ultra-fine machining and particle-size measurements using UV in-line Fraunhofer holography diagnostics.

Due to an isolated error in the 3D simulation parameters, the laser energy and intensity (calculated using the energy) values were incorrectly stated as 10.9 J and 310 22 W cm -2 , respectively, in Sections 3.3, 7 and 8.The correct values are 39.8 J and 1.110 23 W cm -2 .Similarly, the values stated for the higher energy case, 109 J and 310 23 W cm -2 in Section 7, should be 398 J and 1.110 24 W cm -2 , respectively.The conversion efficiencies (which are calculated using the laser energy) shown in Figures 9(d)-9(f) are corrected by multiplying by a constant factor of 0.273.With corrected energies, the synchrotron conversion efficiencies in Section 3.3 now become 4.32%, 4.50% and 1.67% for x f = 0, z R and -z R , respectively, corresponding to changes of +4% and -61% for the positive and negative defocus, respectively.This error does not affect the conclusions of the article.

Abstract Nonlinear compression experiments based on multiple solid thin plates are conducted in an ultra-high peak power Ti:sapphire laser system. The incident laser pulse, with an energy of 80 mJ and a pulse width of 30.2 fs, is compressed to 10.1 fs by a thin-plate based nonlinear compression. Significant small-scale self-focusing is observed as ring structures appear in the near-field of the output pulse at high energy. Numerical simulations based on the experimental setup provide a good explanation for the observed phenomena, offering quantitative predictions of the spectrum, pulse width, dispersion and near- and far-field distributions of the compressed laser pulse.

Abstract The longitudinal fields of a tightly focused Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) laser can be used to accelerate electron pulse trains when it is reflected from a solid plasma. However, the normal transverse mode of laser beams in high-power laser systems is approximately Gaussian. A routine and reliable way to obtain high-intensity LG lasers in experiments remains a major challenge. One approach involves utilizing a solid plasma with a ‘light fan’ structure to reflect the Gaussian laser and obtain a relativistic intense LG laser. In this work, we propose a way to combine the mode transformation of a relativistic laser and the process of electron injection and acceleration. It demonstrates that by integrating a nanowire structure at the center of the ‘light fan’, electrons can be efficiently injected and accelerated during the twisted laser generation process. Using three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, it is shown that a circularly polarized Gaussian beam with ${a}_0=20$ can efficiently inject electrons into the laser beam in interaction with the solid plasma. The electrons injected close to the laser axis are driven by a longitudinal electric field to gain longitudinal momentum, forming bunches with a low energy spread and a small divergence angle. The most energetic bunch exhibits an energy of 310 MeV, with a spread of 6%. The bunch charge is 57 pC, the duration is 400 as and the divergence angle is less than 50 mrad. By employing Gaussian beams, our proposed approach has the potential to reduce experimental complexity in the demonstrations of twisted laser-driven electron acceleration.

Abstract We are showing a significant enhancement in the temporal contrast by reducing the coherent noise of the 10 PW laser system at the Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics facility. The temporal contrast was improved by four orders of magnitude at 10 picoseconds and by more than one order of magnitude at 50 picoseconds before the main peak. This improvement of the picosecond contrast is critical for the experiments using thin solid targets.

Abstract Isolated multi-MeV $\gamma$ -rays with attosecond duration, high collimation and beam angular momentum (BAM) may find many interesting applications in nuclear physics, astrophysics, etc. Here, we propose a scheme to generate such $\gamma$ -rays via nonlinear Thomson scattering of a rotating relativistic electron sheet driven by a few-cycle twisted laser pulse interacting with a micro-droplet target. Our model clarifies the laser intensity threshold and carrier-envelope phase effect on the generation of the isolated electron sheet. Three-dimensional numerical simulations demonstrate the $\gamma$ -ray emission with 320 attoseconds duration and peak brilliance of $9.3\times 10^{24}$ photons s ${}^{-1}$ mrad ${}^{-2}$ mm ${}^{-2}$ per 0.1 $\%$ bandwidth at 4.3 MeV. The $\gamma$ -ray beam carries a large BAM of $2.8 \times 10^{16}\mathrm{\hslash}$ , which arises from the efficient BAM transfer from the rotating electron sheet, subsequently leading to a unique angular distribution. This work should promote the experimental investigation of nonlinear Thomson scattering of rotating electron sheets in large laser facilities.