Researchers at Laurence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have explored plasma as option for increasing laser power.

The team believed that incorporating a plasma transmission grating could enable creation of an ultrafast laser that is 1000 times more powerful than current examples of the same size.

The application of laser technology varies from engraving and drilling to micromachining and lithography. Contemporary lasers utilise diffraction gratings to stretch and amplify a laser pulse. This is then compressed to a high-energy pulse that will not damage the optical elements.

Where a typical grating is often composed of a material such as glass, requiring a larger size to avoid damage. The team speculate that incorporating a plasma grating will enable them to deliver more power without requiring size compensation. These plasma gratings have a damage threshold several orders of magnitude higher than conventional versions and require a high-repetition-rate.

A barrier to success with this method is the instability of plasma. Having previously been utilised in plasma mirrors it is difficult to create a large, uniform plasma, limiting their use for pulse compression. Adding to this is the complexity of non-linear plasma wave dynamics.

Subsequent to completing simulations with the particle-in-cell code EPOCH, the team aims to create a plasma grating that falls within undisclosed parameters for the function of stability.