Two-grating compressor for sub-exawatt lasers: Optimal design for highest focal intensity

Khazanov Efim; Li Zhaoyang

doi:10.1063/5.0293963

Volume 11 Issue 3

May 2026

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Khazanov Efim, Li Zhaoyang. Two-grating compressor for sub-exawatt lasers: Optimal design for highest focal intensity[J]. Matter and Radiation at Extremes, 2026, 11(3): 037201. doi: 10.1063/5.0293963

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Khazanov Efim, Li Zhaoyang. Two-grating compressor for sub-exawatt lasers: Optimal design for highest focal intensity[J]. Matter and Radiation at Extremes, 2026, 11(3): 037201. doi: 10.1063/5.0293963

Khazanov Efim, Li Zhaoyang. Two-grating compressor for sub-exawatt lasers: Optimal design for highest focal intensity[J]. Matter and Radiation at Extremes, 2026, 11(3): 037201. doi: 10.1063/5.0293963

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Two-grating compressor for sub-exawatt lasers: Optimal design for highest focal intensity

doi: 10.1063/5.0293963

Khazanov Efim^{1, 2
,},
Li Zhaoyang^{3, 4
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,
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1.
Gaponov–Grekhov Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IAP RAS), Niznij Novgorod, Russia
2.
China–Russia Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Laser Science, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
3.
State Key Laboratory of Ultra-intense Laser Science and Technology, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
4.
Zhangjiang Laboratory, Shanghai, China

More Information

Corresponding author: a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: lizy@siom.ac.cn
Received Date: 2025-07-31
Accepted Date: 2025-12-11

Available Online: 2026-05-28

Publish Date: 2026-05-28

Abstract

Abstract

The generation of exawatt-class lasers, as well as high focal intensities, is an important goal in ultra-intense laser physics, and grating compressors are the key devices for achieving this goal. Since large-size diffraction gratings are not perfectly plane, any grating compressor inevitably introduces spatiotemporal coupling phase distortions, which reduce the focal intensity of an ultra-intense laser. In this paper, we show that the dependence of the focal intensity on the root mean square (RMS) grating surface roughness is Gaussian and that for RMS roughness below 10 nm, the focal intensity decrease is negligible, giving an RMS requirement of gratings for ultra-intense lasers. In a two-grating compressor, the impact of the large-scale part of the grating surface profiles may be negligible, because it can be completely eliminated by use of two adaptive mirrors. However, in a four-grating compressor, such elimination is almost impossible. On the basis of a complete analytical model and an improved numerical code, we study the grating compressors of two sub-exawatt laser projects (XCELS and SEL-100PW), and the results show that a two-grating compressor is the best choice for exawatt-class ultra-intense lasers such as XCELS, SEL-100PW, and OPAL. This work also provides a basis for compressor grating fabrication as part of the further development of ultra-intense lasers.

The authors have no conflicts to disclose.
Conflict of Interest
Efim Khazanov: Conceptualization (equal); Data curation (equal); Formal analysis (equal); Investigation (equal); Visualization (equal); Writing – original draft (equal). Zhaoyang Li: Conceptualization (equal); Data curation (equal); Formal analysis (equal); Funding acquisition (supporting); Investigation (equal); Visualization (equal); Writing – original draft (equal).
Author Contributions
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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References(36)

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