ALLS Infrastructure

At the core of ALLS infrastructure are three titanium: sapphire laser systems. They are the tools that allow reaching high-field intensities and femtosecond temporal resolution. The infrastructure also owns a wide range of equipment and instruments specifically related to ultrafast photonics.

 

Laser systems

 

Multi kHz LASER

This laser delivers femtosecond amplified pulses at a high repetition rate with a relatively high energy per pulse. This system is suitable for applications requiring a high signal-to-noise ratio or also requiring an accumulation over a high number of events.

10/100Hz LASER

The 10/100 Hz system is an hybrid system offering an ideal trade-off between the pulse repetition rate and the available energy per pulse. It can deliver enough energy for applications requiring intensities well beyond the ionization threshold of molecules, such as interactions with plasmas and processes involving relativistic electrons.

500TW LASER

It is the most powerful laser available in Canada. With a peak power above 500 TW, the beam can be focused on solid or gas targets with an extremely high-field intensity. Laser-matter interactions in such conditions lead to the generation of secondary sources with unique properties.

OPTICAL PARAMETRIC AMPLIFIERS

Two OPAs are available within the ALLS infrastructure. They allow converting the fundamental wavelength (800 nm) from the Ti:Sa lasers through different parametric processes. It gives continuous tunability from 200 nm to 20 microns in the femtosecond regime with different efficiencies. One OPA is pumped with the 2.5 kHz laser system and another one is pumped using the 100 Hz beam.

 

Add-ons & Endstations

 

EXTERNAL COMPRESSION MODULES

It is possible to further decrease the pulse duration available from the Multi kHz laser or from the OPAs by using available hollow-core fiber setup. It is possible to obtain few-cycle laser pulses at different wavelength, that is, 800 nm, 1400 nm and 1800 nm.

COINCIDENT DETECTION

This chamber is used in parallel with the Multi kHz laser system and also with the corresponding OPA. It allows for the detection of molecules fragments resulting from ionization under different laser fields. This tool is essential for dynamic molecular imaging applications.

HIGH HARMONIC GENERATION

This chamber is used in parallel with the 100 Hz beam line and corresponding OPA. It allows generating and detecting radiations that are harmonics of the fundamental laser field. The chamber includes a pulsed gas jet and also a XUV spectrometer showing good resolution and efficiency up to 1keV of photon energy.

X-RAY BETATRON BEAMLINE

The X-ray betatron beam line, obtained from electron accelerated through laser wakefield (LWFA) with the ALLS high peak power laser, allows high resolution phase contrast and high throughput X-ray imaging at 50keV. The X-ray pulse duration, which is 30fs, gives the possibility to study the dynamics of complex systems through femtosecond time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Electrons accelerated by LWFA are manipulated with electron optics and with an undulator in a first step towards a free electron laser.

 

Metrology and instruments

 

The ALLS infrastructure includes a wide range of instruments related to ultrafast photonics that are available to users.

  • CCD Cameras
  • XUV/VIS/NIR/IR Spectrometer
  • X-CCD Camera
  • Powermeters
  • Photodiodes
  • Streak Camera
  • SPIDER
  • TG-FROG
  • Autocorrelators
  • Third-order correlator
  • Wave-front sensors
  • Electron spectrometer (500MeV-GeV range)