The Vulcan 10 Petawatt Project

The project is to upgrade Vulcan to the 10 Petawatt (PW) power level (300J in 30fs) and provide focussed intensities of 10²³ Wcm^-2 to its user community. These unprecedented optical fields will open up a plethora of new scientific opportunities, which could enable tests of some of the most fundamental scientific theories. This upgrade will rely on a new technology, known as Optical Parametric Chirped Pulse Amplification or OPCPA that has been pioneered by the CLF.

The project was divided into two phases. Phase one, which is now complete, saw the development of a novel Front End to seed the remainder of the laser system. This Front End comprises of a milli-Joule level broadband seed, a stretcher and an OPCPA Joule level amplifier based on LBO crystals. It delivers ultra-short pulses at 910 nm, with energies of up to 1 Joule and with a bandwidth of >150 nm, sufficient to support a pulse duration of 30fs or less.

A 10 PW Technology Development Programme has been initiated as part of this project. This plan will further improve the performance of key components that ultimately will improve the facility headline specification without additional construction cost. The major construction phase of the project has been delayed. This however has afforded the opportunity to optimise further the design and performance of the facility, incorporate new scientific ideas and consolidate the technological basis, thereby further reducing the delivery risk.

For more information, please contact Cristina Hernandez-Gomez or John Collier.