Title :
Experimental and modeling studies of a Brillouin amplifier
Author :
Offenberger, Allan A. ; Thompson, David C. ; Fedosejevs, Robert ; Harwood, B. ; Santiago, J. ; Manjunath, H.R.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., Alberta Univ., Edmonton, Alta., Canada
fDate :
1/1/1993 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
KrF laser-pumped backward Brillouin amplification of nanosecond pulses at 248 nm is investigated both experimentally and numerically. Gain and saturation of the amplifier system are studied for an SF6 Brillouin medium at pressures of 5 to 15 atm and 24 ns pump pulses at an intensity of ≈9 MW/cm2. The input Stokes intensity is varied from 0.001 to 1.0 MW/cm2. Power gains of 20 are achieved at energy extraction efficiencies of 40%. Experimental results are compared to a time dependent numerical model of pulse amplification which incorporates arbitrary pump and Stokes pulse shapes and intensities. The effect of laser bandwidth is investigated in the model calculations in order to assess its influence on Brillouin amplification
Keywords :
optical pumping; stimulated Brillouin scattering; sulphur compounds; 248 nm; 40 percent; KrF; KrF laser-pumped backward Brillouin amplification; SF6; SF6 Brillouin medium; Stokes pulse shapes; energy extraction efficiencies; input Stokes intensity; laser bandwidth; nanosecond pulses; power gains; pulse amplification; pump pulses; saturation; stimulated backward Brillouin scattering; time dependent numerical model; Brillouin scattering; Laser beams; Laser fusion; Laser modes; Optical beams; Optical pulse generation; Optical pulses; Power lasers; Pulse amplifiers; Pulse compression methods;
Journal_Title :
Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of
