Title :
Prepulse contrast monitor for the OMEGA driver line
Author :
Okishev, A.V. ; Jacobs-Perkins, D. ; Morse, S.F.B. ; Scott, D. ; Seka, W.
Author_Institution :
Lab. for Laser Energetics, Rochester Univ., NY, USA
Abstract :
Summary form only given. The OMEGA laser system is a 60-beam, 30-kJ UV laser designed and built for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments. Target experiments conducted on the OMEGA facility require extremely high contrast of the main pulse over the prepulse noise. Thus the problem of monitoring and measuring prepulse contrast at the output of the OMEGA driver line becomes very important. It is extremely difficult to measure directly a prepulse contrast of >I0/sup 4/:1 with a photodetector and oscilloscope: driving the photodetector at high output signal may damage the photodetector or oscilloscope. We have developed a two-channel OMEGA driver line contrast monitor based on a light-activated Si switch and a photodiode.
Keywords :
fusion reactor instrumentation; laser accessories; laser beams; laser fusion; laser noise; laser variables measurement; neodymium; optical glass; phosphate glasses; solid lasers; 30 kJ; Nd:glass laser; OMEGA driver line; OMEGA facility; OMEGA laser system; Si; UV laser; contrast; high output signal; inertial confinement fusion experiments; light-activated Si switch; monitoring; oscilloscope; photodetector; photodiode; prepulse contrast; prepulse contrast monitor; prepulse noise; pulse; target experiments; two-channel OMEGA driver line contrast monitor; Design engineering; Laser beams; Laser fusion; Laser noise; Monitoring; Optical amplifiers; Optical pulses; Power engineering and energy; Prototypes; Pulse amplifiers;
Conference_Titel :
Lasers and Electro-Optics, 1999. CLEO '99. Summaries of Papers Presented at the Conference on
Conference_Location :
Baltimore, MD, USA
Print_ISBN :
1-55752-595-1
DOI :
10.1109/CLEO.1999.834371
