Tabletop 300J 1ns Nd:glass laser with 3 diffraction-limited beam divergence

This paper describe tabletop 300J Nd:glass laser is used to pump a broadband chirped pulse optical parametric amplifier and constitutes part of a 0,5 PW femtosecond setup. Beam divergence was measured in the focal plane of a non-aberration objective with a focal distance of 3m. The measurements showed that 90% of beam energy was concentrated in an angle 35 murad. The second harmonic generator is made of a 22-mm-long KD*P crystal (oee type). The second harmonic energy was up to 190J.