Control System for a Bipolar Capacitor Bank of a High-Power Nd:Glass Laser Chain

A 500-kJ capacitor bank is developed for two-arm high-power Nd:phosphate glass laser system at Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, India. One arm of the laser chain will be used for amplification of a laser pulse from a nanosecond oscillator, whereas the second arm will be used for optical parametric chirped pulse amplification scheme using a femtosecond oscillator. The laser system has 12 rod amplifiers, 6 disk amplifiers, and 3 Faraday isolators. The major part of this capacitor bank is developed in a bipolar configuration. A microprocessor-based system is designed to control the power conditioning of this capacitor bank, as well as the operation of the laser system with both oscillators. Various issues pertaining to the bipolar capacitor bank, such as electromagnetic interference, induced voltages, and safety aspects, are also discussed.