Megawatt laser calorimeter design

The conceptual design of a calorimeter that can safely capture the output of continuous-wave (CW), megawatt lasers operating in the near infrared wavelength region is described. A primary consideration in this design was the possibility that at some point in the future it would have to be scaled to even larger dimensions. The design uses standard optical techniques and a simple geometry to handle the high irradiance expected from the laser sources. An array of curved, reflective rods is used to spread the laser radiation before it is absorbed by a black-walled cavity. The calorimeter is designed to capture the entire laser beam with subsequent conversion of the electromagnetic energy to thermal energy. The temperature of the calorimeter is monitored and used to determine the energy of the incident laser radiation