The Asterix IV laser in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
(commonly referred to by the acronym PALS for Prague Asterix Laser System) is a high power photolytically pumped
iodine
Iodine is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid at standard conditions that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , ...
gas laser capable of producing ~300 to 500 picosecond long pulses of light at the fundamental line of 1.315 micrometres wavelength with a total energy of about 1
kilojoule
The joule ( , ; symbol: J) is the unit of energy in the International System of Units (SI). It is equal to the amount of work done when a force of 1 newton displaces a mass through a distance of 1 metre in the direction of the force applied ...
(or tripled to the
third harmonic at 438
nanometers
330px, Different lengths as in respect to the molecular scale.
The nanometre (international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: nm) or nanometer (American and British English spelling differences#-re ...
with lower pulse energies) and peak powers of around 3 terawatts. There are also two smaller auxiliary beams capable of producing 100 J pulses. One of the research topics is
X-ray
An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...
generation in laser excited plasma.
Asterix IV was originally developed, built and operated at the
Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics
The Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics (abbreviation: MPQ; german: Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik) is a part of the Max Planck Society which operates 87 research facilities in Germany.
The institute is located in Garching, Germany, ...
(MPQ) in Garching, Germany. The Laser Plasmas division of Prof. Witkowski operated the laser at MPQ from 1991 until May 1997. In 1999 it was reassembled in Prague and put into operation again on 8 June 2000.
PALS is open to both domestic and foreign researchers.
File:Prague_asterix_laser_system.jpeg, View of the master oscillator and 5 amplifier stages
File:Prague_asterix_laser_system-capacitor_bank.jpeg, Part of capacitor bank
File:Prague_asterix_laser_system-interaction_chamber.jpeg, Interaction chambers
See also
*
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The ...
*
List of laser types
References
External links
Laboratory sitePDF datasheet
{{fusion experiments
Nuclear research institutes
Research lasers