Terawatt picosecond CO$_{2}$ laser

We present the design of a powerful CO$_{2}$ laser that generates short 3 ps pulses with energy exceeding 10 J/pulse. The output of a conventional 1 atm TEA oscillator undergoes pulse shortening via a semiconductor switching method in combination with nonlinear Kerr cell. Pressure broadening of CO$_{2 }$rotational line in the 10 atm regenerative amplifier and the 9 atm final amplifier allows amplification of the short pulse up to several terawatts in peak power without pulse distortion. Present applications of the terawatt CO$_{2 }$laser include various methods of laser acceleration of relativistic electron beams, generation of high-intensity X-rays via Thomson scattering, ion acceleration, etc.