High-energy few-cycle pulses for relativistic laser-matter interaction: Status of the Petawatt Field Synthesizer

Summary form only given. The Petawatt Field Synthesizer (PFS) light source has been under development at the Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik (Garching, Germany) for several years [1]. Its aim is to deliver few-cycle, waveform-controlled light pulses with unprecedented peak power at 10 Hz repetition rate from a compact (laboratory-scale) system.As a conclusion we report on the current performance of the system: The pump-laser chain delivers picosecond pulses with more than 1 J of pulse energy at the fundamental wavelength, which lead to more than 50 mJ output of the OPCPA chain (at 700-1400 nm) in a pulse that is compressible to below 7 fs pulse duration. After the long initial development phase, the PFS system is finally operated on a daily basis with the above parameters and is for the first time applied to the generation of high-harmonic radiation from a solid surface (SHHG) with the aim of generating intense isolated attosecond pulses.