DRACO upgrade and the diode-pumped PW laser PEnELOPE

The Helmholtz-Centre Dresden-Rossendorf is now planning to build a fully diode-pumped Petawatt laser for laser-particle acceleration research. Within the PEnELOPE project (Petawatt, Energy-Efficient Laser for Optical Plasma Experiments) a pulse energy of 150 J, a repetition rate around 1 Hz and a pulse duration of 150 fs after compression are desired. Furthermore, the existing DRACO laser system - a 200TW flash lamped Ti:Sapphire laser is going to be upgraded soon towards the PW-level at short pulse lengths in the range of 25-30fs. Recent laser plasma experiments as well as issues of the laser development are addressed.