Possible linear-to-circular polarization conversion had been studied for the Laser MégaJoule. We measured the consequences of such polarization conversion on laser-induced damage using the MELBA testbed. The MELBA laser is located in CEA CESTA (France) and delivers a nanosecond UV centimeter-sized laser beam. Experimental comparison of polarizations states showed a significant decrease of damage densities in circular polarization. Thanks to the particular imaging setup, we were able to explain this by both a reduction of the Kerr effect (supported by theory) and a reduction of the intrinsic absorption of silica optics defects.
The MELBA testbed located at CEA CESTA (France) is a nanosecond UV centimeter-sized beam aiming at studying laser damage. Previous work carried out on MELBA showed a dependency of laser-induced damage to power modulation of the laser pulse in linear propagation regime. We extended this study to the non-linear propagation regime. Thanks to dedicated imaging setup, we carried out an experimental study of Bespalov-Talanov gain and laser-induced damage with different temporal modulations. The tuning of phase modulation parameters made it possible to annihilate backward stimulated Brillouin scattering and consequently focus on the impact of the Kerr effect.
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