Laser and Plasma Laboratories

High Energy Repetition-Rate Adjustable Carrier Locked to Envelope System Facility (HERACLES)

The HERACLES facility, currently under construction at the Townes Laser Institute, will feature outstanding output parameters. With expected output pulses of duration ~8 fs, energy up to 2 mJ at repetition rates as high as 25 kHz and carrier envelope phase (CEP) stabilization of the oscillator and amplifier chain, the HICEPS meets the requirements of the most demanding experiments. This facility enables the generation of peak powers approaching 0.25 TW at high repetition rates in a compact tabletop design and makes it an ideal source for driving the generation of high harmonics (HHG) and opens the pathway to the emerging field of attoscience.

The design of the HICEPS laser is based on an Optical Parametric Chirped Pulse Amplifier (OPCPA) architecture. Every stage of our design makes use of the latest technology for the generation and amplification of few cycle pulses.