Thales takes delivery of a Gentec-EO custom 10PW beam dump for their most powerful laser in the world

CASE STUDY

Application: Research

Measurement type: Laser beam dump

Customer goals

Thales designed, developed, and installed the most powerful laser system in the world at ELI-NP (Extreme Light Infrastructure – Nuclear Physics) research center in Magurele, Romania for its partner the IFIN-HH – Horia Hulubei National institute for R&D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering.

In March 2019, the two-arm high-power laser system demonstrated the capability to deliver a world record peak power of 2 x 10 PW.

Their goal is to remain well above their competitors as the best choice for providing reliable, optimum-performance laser systems to researchers in particle physics, nuclear physics, and extreme light physics.

To achieve such a goal while working with extremely high-power lasers, they need to dump the laser beam at some point. This is where Gentec-EO jumps in.

Challenges

This is a new and unique laser system, therefore there is no existing solution available on the market at that point in time.

The challenge here was to design and manufacture the largest beam dump in a vacuum enclosure able to absorb a 10 PW beam, with back reflection of no more than 0.1%.

This had never been done before.

Gentec-EO’s solutions

Given that the customer was located in France, Gentec-EO was fortunate to collaborate with its official local distributor Laser Components. The synergy between Thales, Laser Components, and Gentec-EO allowed for a collaborative process that led to gathering all the necessary specifications and requirements of the project.

Given the uniqueness of the laser specifications, a customized solution was required.

The solution Gentec-EO engineers designed involves 2 absorptive glass plates that absorb most of the laser light and suppress the back-reflected light.

Below is a table of the most important specifications of the final laser beam dump delivered to Thales. Gentec-EO was able to meet all requirements for Thales.  

The impressive beam dump has an optical aperture of 590 mm, allowing a beam as large as 570 mm to get in.

The beam dump can tolerate up to 200 mJ/cm² of energy density for a total 230 J, which allows Thales to use their laser system fully.

The unique and custom beam dump can be viewed below:

Results

Here you can see how the Gentec-EO beam dump was installed ELI-NP research center:

The beam dump was delivered to Thales in November 2019 and was used during demonstrations to prove that their laser system is indeed the most powerful in the world.  

Now that Thales has found a partner to collaborate with on such highly innovative projects that is willing to take custom orders to fulfill their unique requirements, they can confidently keep working on their goal to provide reliable, optimum-performance laser systems to researchers in particle physics, nuclear physics, and extreme light physics.

WE CAN HELP YOU TOO

Gentec Electro-Optics specializes in laser beam measurement and analysis. With an outstanding 50-year track record of innovation, developing and providing state-of-the-art technologies to the laser market, Gentec-EO has become The Expert of the laser beam measurement field.

Gentec-EO offers the broadest range of off-the-shelf and custom laser beam measurement solutions. Challenge us with your laser specs and system requirements and we'll come up with the measurement solution that meets your needs.

Request a free consultation with a laser beam measurement expert