In addition to be in charge of operating the SLIC facilities, the SLIC group conducts research and development programs. One of our main objectives is to improve and optimize our laser systems, in particular to obtain shorter pulse duration at the laser fundamental wavelength and also at the second and third harmonics. A large part of our R&D activities also concerns the advanced spectro-temporal characterization of laser electric fields and their spatial and temporal pulse shaping. Some of these activities have been conducted in the framework of projects outside SLIC such as the EUROFEL program (FP6 Design Study coordinated by Pr Feldhaus from DESY) for which we have investigated specific spatial and temporal pulse shaping, synchronisation issues and the possibility of seeding FELs with harmonics of femtosecond lasers. This last part of the EUROFEL activity is presented in the MEC-ATTO section of this report. Our R&D work has benefited from strong and long-lasting collaborations mainly with the Fastlite and Amplitude-Technologies companies. We also regularly collaborate with Daniele Rovera from the Observatoire de Paris.

For most of our R&D studies, we carry out theoretical and numerical studies for which we generally develop specific programs in Fortran or Labview™. In particular cases, we also use external codes like MIRO (CEA/DAM), SNLO (Arlee Smith, Sandia), and Zemax. Our activities also require advanced optical characterization tools which are often developed in-house. For instance, a dual wavelength (633, 785 nm) laser autocollimator has been recently developed to characterise lenses at the laser wavelength. A reflection test bench system was also developed to characterise the reflection or transmission coefficient of optics. In addition, a Fizeau interferometer, from ZYGO, is now available to characterise our optics quantitatively. These systems enable us to verify the suitability of the components for our applications and to carry out more accurate modelling of our systems by taking into account real components rather than ideal ones.