High-power femtosecond lasers beyond $5~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ are attractive for strong-field physics with mid-infrared (IR) fields but are difficult to scale up. In optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) at mid-IR wavelengths, a nonlinear crystal is vital, and its transmittance, dispersion, nonlinear coefficient and size determine the achievable power and wavelength. OPCPA beyond $5~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ routinely relies on semiconductor crystals because common oxide crystals are not transparent in this spectral range. However, the small size and low damage threshold of semiconductor crystals fundamentally limit the peak power to gigawatts. In this paper, we design a terawatt-class OPCPA system at $5.2~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ based on a new kind of oxide crystal of $\text{La}_{3}\text{Ga}_{5.5}\text{Nb}_{0.5}\text{O}_{14}$ (LGN). The extended transparent range, high damage threshold, superior phase-matching characteristics and large size of LGN enable the generation of 0.13 TW seven-cycle pulses at $5.2~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$. This design fully relies on the state-of-the-art OPCPA technology of an octave-spanning ultrafast Ti:sapphire laser and a thin-disk Yb:YAG laser, offering the performance characteristics of high power, a high repetition rate and a stable carrier–envelope phase.

The Z-backlighter laser facility primarily consists of two high energy, high-power laser systems. Z-Beamlet laser (ZBL) (Rambo et al., Appl. Opt. 44, 2421 (2005)) is a multi-kJ-class, nanosecond laser operating at 1054 nm which is frequency doubled to 527 nm in order to provide x-ray backlighting of high energy density events on the Z-machine. Z-Petawatt (ZPW) (Schwarz et al., J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 112, 032020 (2008)) is a petawatt-class system operating at 1054 nm delivering up to 500 J in 500 fs for backlighting and various short-pulse laser experiments (see also Figure 10 for a facility overview). With the development of the magnetized liner inertial fusion (MagLIF) concept on the Z-machine, the primary backlighting missions of ZBL and ZPW have been adjusted accordingly. As a result, we have focused our recent efforts on increasing the output energy of ZBL from 2 to 4 kJ at 527 nm by modifying the fiber front end to now include extra bandwidth (for stimulated Brillouin scattering suppression). The MagLIF concept requires a well-defined/behaved beam for interaction with the pressurized fuel. Hence we have made great efforts to implement an adaptive optics system on ZBL and have explored the use of phase plates. We are also exploring concepts to use ZPW as a backlighter for ZBL driven MagLIF experiments. Alternatively, ZPW could be used as an additional fusion fuel pre-heater or as a temporally flexible high energy pre-pulse. All of these concepts require the ability to operate the ZPW in a nanosecond long-pulse mode, in which the beam can co-propagate with ZBL. Some of the proposed modifications are complete and most of them are well on their way.

A design for generation of two ultra-high power laser beams, 130 TW and 1.4 PW, using a chain of optical parametric chirped pulse amplifiers, first pumped by a 10 Hz frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser, and later by the frequency tripled single-shot kilojoule level iodine laser Prague Asterix Laser System is presented. Expected enhancement of the parameters in the upgrade, besides the output power, are up to 1022 W/cm2 from 1016 W/cm2 in target intensity, and about 20 fs from 0.5 ns in pulse duration. Owing to the limited dimensions of the Prague Asterix Laser System building, the lay-out of the new equipment had to use only the left-over space in the laser hall.