Multikilojoule petawatt lasers using chirped-pulse amplification are being constructed worldwide. Several systems have adopted a tiled-grating approach to meet the size requirements for the compression gratings. Grating tiles need to be precisely phased to ensure a transform-limited focal spot when focusing high-energy laser pulses in the target plane. A computer-control test system that uses a Mach–Zehnder interferometer capable of monitoring and correcting drift in the tiled-grating assemblies within the compressor is described. The differential errors due to eight gratings, within a compressor with four grating assemblies, were compensated by adjusting a single grating.
© 2006 Optical Society of America
Original Manuscript: January 3, 2006
Manuscript Accepted: January 30, 2006
J. Bunkenburg, T. J. Kessler, W. Skulski, and H. Huang, "Phase-locked control of tiled-grating assemblies for chirped-pulse-amplified lasers using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer," Opt. Lett. 31, 1561-1563 (2006)