Status of MJ power conditioning system for high power laser facility

Summary form only given. MJ power conditioning system (PCS) has been designed and built up for the present most advanced laser facility in China, which provides multi-megajoule pulsed excitation to drive more than 2000 flashlamps in the laser´s main amplifiers. Design objective, compositions and structure, and the key design methods of PCS are introduced in this paper, as well as function requirements and design methods of the key components. MJ PCS consists of 108 power conditioning modules (PCMs), which are organized into six bundles. With the maximum electrical energy stored in each PCM reaches 1.2MJ, PCS totally stores 110MJ energy, and 130MJ maximally. Each PCM outputs a 540μs (10% power points) pulse to excite 10 pairs of Xenon flashlamps and the peak current is 0.25MA. Thus, the peak power of a “system” short exceeds 410GW, and the total peak current reaches 27MA. To date, all the 108 modules have been assembled, shipped and installed, and extensive reliability testing has been performed on all of the modules and components, as well as fault testing. Commissioning data is presented, and show that the specifications of PCS have met the design objective and can make sure the small signal gain coefficient of segment amplifier reach 5.0% per centimeter.