Ultrafast Particle and Laser Beam Labs

Four academics stood in the Lab 2 bunker

The Department operates three ultrafast (sub-picosecond) laser labs, one of which also incudes a ultrafast electron beams in a radiation shielded environment.

Through our involvement in the Cockcroft Institute for particle accelerators we are also major users of the femtosecond relativistic electron beam facility at Daresbury National Laboratory.

These facilities support research in ultrafast material science, in laser-driven particle (electron) acceleration, and in high-field non-linear optics.

We have two high-power ultrafast laser labs housed in the Lancaster Physics building.

Our facilities

Laboratory 1

Laboratory 1 includes a laser that can deliver 35 femtosecond laser pulses with peak power of 170 GW (6mJ energy), at a repetition rate of 1 kHz. A closed-cycle cryostat can cool material samples to 4 Kelvin. In separate experimental stations, the laser is used for the developing non-linear optical single-cycle picosecond pulse sources, for application to electron beams acceleration. THz pulses are also generated and sued for femtosecond pump-probe experiments examining the dynamics of magnetic materials.

Laboratory 2

Laboratory 2 also includes a laser kHz repetition rate high power laser, operating with 10fs pulse duration. The laser drives a collection of optical Parametric Amplifiers allows the conversion of the laser to ultrafast optic pulses that can be tuned from the mid-infrared through to the optical (wavelength of 11 um to 400nm)

Daresbury Nation Laboratory

Lancaster Physics, in collaboration with Manchester University, operates its own laser and electron beam laboratory at Daresbury Nation Laboratory. This lab contains a 13 mJ kHz laser system (which is to be upgrades to 100 mJ) and a custom-manufactured 100 keV photo-emission electron source. The laboratory is directed primarily to research in the laser driven acceleration of electron, with a goal of generating MeV beams for applications in ultrafast electron diffraction and in laser-driven electron energy technology.

Partner facilities

Partner facilities

We are major users of the sub-picosecond relativistic electron beam test facility “CLARA”, at Daresbury National Laboratory. This facility provides us access to high energy electron beam together with synchronized high-power laser beams. Our research has demonstrated world leading results in THz driven electron acceleration on relativistic electron beams.

CLARA

The CLARA facility is currently being upgraded to provide electrons with energy up to 250 MeV, and a laser with 100 TW power. When completed the facility will form the backbone of the Lancaster-led H3+Beams project in hybrid direct-laser and laser-plasma electron acceleration.

Key Contacts

Professor Steven Jamison

Professor in Novel Methods of Particle Acceleration

Accelerator Physics, Energy Lancaster

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Dr Rostislav Mikhaylovskiy

Reader

Accelerator Physics

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