Multiterawatt laser-linac facility

Summary form only given. Recent progress in the generation and amplification of femtosecond pulses has made it possible to achieve peak powers of the order of tens of terawatts with relatively modest laser energy (<10 J). As a result, compact, multiterawatt lasers can be built at modest expense. Such lasers are of great interest for relativistic laser-plasma interaction research, for production of ultrafast X-rays, hard X-rays and /spl gamma/-rays for radiography, and for advanced electron acceleration research. We are currently developing a Ti:sapphire chirped pulse amplification laser, called Falcon. This laser is being constructed near the LLNL 100 MeV electron linear accelerator and, ultimately, is synchronized with this linac with sub-picosecond temporal accuracy, Such a facility permits a range of advanced experiments in which intense laser pulses interact with high peak current bunches of relativistic electrons. To achieve this synchronization part of the Falcon laser pulse is used to produce the electron beam in a photoinjector electron gun which injects electrons into the main accelerator. Furthermore, the RF of the S-band linac is slaved to the laser oscillator.