Please address
inquiries to:
Phone: 301-405-4816
Email: milch@umd.edu
Laboratory for Intense Laser-Matter Interaction Physics
Intense Laser Matter Interactions
- University of Maryland
- 10 TW & 100 TW Ti:Sapphire lasers
- mid-IR OPCPA laser
- kHz Ti:Sapphire lasers
Located four miles from Washington, D.C, the University of Maryland (UMD) is the state's flagship university and a leading research institution, propelled by a $1.3 billion joint research enterprise. The DC area is home to numerous national and defense labs, a hub of science, policy, and funding organizations, and a center of culture and recreation.
Capabilities
Overview
The Intense Laser-Matter Interactions Physics Lab has a wide range of lasers, experimental chambers, and diagnostics for performing elegant and flexible high repetition rate experiments in areas including high field nonlinear optics, laser-driven charged particle acceleration, structured light, and high intensity propagation.
For more details, please visit the lab website: https://lasermatter.umd.edu/
Laser Systems
10 TW Laser System
| Parameter | Value | Unit | Additional Information | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulse energy (compressed) | 0.4 | J | *equipped with Dazzler pulse shaper and deformable mirror *main recent applications: filamentation, air waveguides |
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| Pulsewidth | 40 | fs | ||||
| Rep. rate | 10 | Hz | ||||
| Central wavelength | 800 | nm | ||||
Kilohertz Laser System 1
| Parameter | Value | Unit | Additional Information | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulse energy (compressed) | 11 | mJ | *equipped with Dazzler pulse shaper and deformable mirror *main recent applications: kHz few-cycle-driven laser wakefield acceleration, time-resolved measurements, of atomic/molecular nonlinearities, quasi-CW air waveguides, time-structured few-cycle pulses |
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| Pulsewidth | 40 | fs | ||||
| Pulse energy (few-cycle mode) | 3 | mJ | ||||
| Pulsewidth (few-cycle mode) | 5 | fs | ||||
| Rep. rate | 1 | kHz | ||||
| Central wavelength | 800 | nm | ||||
| Central wavelength (few-cycle) | 650 | nm | ||||
Kilohertz Laser System 2
| Parameter | Value | Unit | Additional Information | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulse energy (compressed) | 4.5 | mJ | *equipped with Dazzler pulse shaper and deformable mirror *main recent applications: spatio-temporal optical vortices and applications, applications of OAM |
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| Pulsewidth | 40 | fs | ||||
| Rep. rate | 1 | kHz | ||||
| Central wavelength | 800 | nm | ||||
OPA/DFG system
| Parameter | Value | Additional Information | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 10 µJ (at 11 µm) to 2 mJ (at 1.5 - 2 µJ) |
*optical parametric amplfier/difference frequency generator *generates mid-IR through long wave infrared (1.5 µm--11 µm) *used with kilohertz laser systems 1 and 2 *main recent applications: measurement of nonlinear optical responses in the mid-IR and long wave-IR. |
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| Pulsewidth | 40 fs through picoseconds |
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| Rep. rate | pumped at 1 kHz |
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| Wavelength | 1.5 - 11 µm | |||||
mid-IR OPCPA system
| Parameter | Value | Unit | Additional Information | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy (compressed) | 30 | mJ | *mid-IR optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier system *auxiliary synchronized pulses at 1.45 microns (70 mJ, 50 ps), 1.06 microns (200 mJ, 100 ps), 1.03 microns (200fs, 1 mJ) *main recent applications: avalanche-based detection of radioactive materials, development of high efficiency plasma gratings |
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| Pulsewidth | 80 | fs | ||||
| Rep. rate | 20 | Hz | ||||
| Central wavelength | 3.9 | µm | ||||
CO2 lasers
| Parameter | Value | Unit | Additional Information | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulse energy (Gaussian mode) | 2 | J | *two units with similar parameters; can be run in oscillator-amplifier configuration at max. energy ~5 J multimode *main recent applications: avalanche-based detection of radioactive materials |
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| Pulsewidth | 50-100 | ns | ||||
| Rep. rate | 30 | Hz | ||||
| Central wavelength | 10.6 | µm | ||||
100 TW laser system (available Q4 2025)
| Parameter | Value | Unit | Additional Information | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pulse energy (compressed) | 4 | J | *equipped with Dazzler pulse shaper and deformable mirror *main application is to relativistic plasma physics, including laser wakefield acceleration, spatio-temporal optical vortices and applications, applications of OAM |
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| Pulsewidth | 40 | fs | ||||
| Rep. rate @ 4J/pulse | 1 | Hz | ||||
| Rep. rate @ 1J/pulse | 10 | Hz | ||||
| Central wavelength | 800 | nm | ||||
Selected Diagnostics and Targets
Spatial interferometers (w, 2w, 3w probe beams), SSSI (single-shot supercontinuum spectral interferometry), TG-SSSI (transient grating single-shot supercontinuum spectral interferometry), magnetic electron spectrometers (up to ~10 GeV), flat field EUV spectrometers with EUV CCDs (2), single shot mid-IR spectrometer, wide variety of cluster and gas jet targets from super-critical (at 800 nm) to meter-scale low density jets for LWFA, infrared cameras and pyrocams, photon drag detectors, multiple pulse diagnostics including FROGs and single-shot correlators.
Experimental Chambers
Multiple large chambers with accessible ports, pumps for high gas loads.
Contacts