AQWEST, LLC — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 25g

Description

Laser plasma accelerators (LPA) enabled by ultrafast laser (UFL) driver offers much reduced size and cost compared to conventional accelerators of the same energy. This would drastically cut the cost of high-energy particle research on collider-based facilities and advanced light sources. Planned conventional accelerators (e.g., for the proposed International Linear Collider) would be 25 miles long. LPA hold the promise of making possible a low-cost table-top accelerator with particle energies in the tens of GeV range. The development and engineering of these complex UFL systems for accelerator applications requires sophisticated computational design tools and predictive models. Because the various optical, thermal, and mechanical effects are highly coupled, fully integrated modeling tools employing a coupled multi-physics approach are required. The proposed project will create the urgently needed UFL simulation & design model that will greatly expedite the development of the new and powerful UFL systems for a broad range of applications including laser acceleration, cancer therapy, material research & production, precision manufacturing, and other emerging applications. In particular, the compactness and relative simplicity of the emerging field of laser accelerators promises to greatly reduce the cost and timelines of high-energy research, and to advance new scientific discoveries. With energetic particle beams affordable for universities, commercial laboratories (e.g., semiconductor material development), and hospitals (cancer therapy), the US will be able to maintain its technological leadership. The proposed project will leverage a suite of laser device/system models that Aqwest previously developed for the US Army and US DOE, thus benefiting from previous US government investment and reducing the development cost and timeline. In Phase I, we will firm-up the modeling tool architecture, and start developing key elements by assimilating existing calibrated physics packages previously developed by Aqwest. In Phase II, we will complete the first releasable version of model and make it available to the Government, academia, and industry. 1-micron UFL based on ceramic Yb:Sc2O3 has major commercial applications in precision laser material processing, medical, remote sensing, lidar, and optical communication.