Abstract
This paper describes a multiterawatt hybrid laser system based on a Ti : sapphire front end and 25-cm-aperture photodissociation XeF(C — A) amplifier. The front end generates 50-fs pulses with second-harmonic (λ = 475 nm) energies of up to 5 mJ. The gainmedium of the amplifier is produced in a XeF2 — N2 mixture by VUV radiation excited in xenon by a high-power electron beam. Through amplification of a negatively chirped 1-ps pulse, followed by pulse compression in bulk fused silica, a peak power of 14 TW, record-high for the visible range, has been achieved.