SLAC, LBNL Select Calmar Laser System

The Stanford Linear Accelerator Facility (SLAC) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) have announced the selection of Calmar Laser’s Cazadero femtosecond fiber laser chirped pulse amplifier system for synchronized time-resolved experiments that reveal structural changes in novel material systems.

The ultrafast fiber laser manufacturer first introduced the Cazadero in 2005, primarily for precision materials processing applications in medicine and microelectronics manufacturing. The research community has shown interest in the device because it provides up to 20-µJ pulse energies at repetition rates up to a few megahertz and a typical pulse width of less than 500 fs.

The Cazadero operates at a repetition rate of 1.28 MHz and has been successfully phase-locked to the synchrotron 476-MHz radio-frequency signal with a timing jitter of less than 1 ps. Its high-energy output pulse is used to induce change in a material system of study, which is then interrogated at the atomic level by an x-ray pulse from the synchrotron. The approach was used at SLAC to better understand the excited-state dynamics of nanocrystalline systems and the differences between them and corresponding bulk materials. This insight could lead to more efficient next-generation photovoltaic or biomedical materials.

At LBNL, the device has enabled the development of a new light source known as the next-generation light source, a free-electron laser that produces x-rays into the keV energy range and is unique in operating at a megahertz repetition rate. The light source will enable cinematic imaging of dynamics, determination of the structure of heterogeneous systems, and the development of novel nonlinear x-ray spectroscopies.

For more information, visit: www.calmarlaser.com