The design, construction and testing of the X-ray laser project krypton-fluoride laser amplifier

Author

Meixler, Lewis ; Goldhar, Julius ; Suckewer, Szymon ; Tighe, William

Author_Institution

Plasma Phys. Lab., Princeton Univ., NJ, USA

fYear

1991

fDate

30 Sep-3 Oct 1991

Firstpage

1162

Abstract

A large, UV preionized excimer krypton-fluoride (KrF) laser amplifier was designed and fabricated. This laser amplifier produced an on-target laser power density of 2×10¹⁸ W/cm². Maximum output energy was determined to be 5 J in a 20-ns-long pulse, and maximum instantaneous power was achieved in a 250-350-mJ, 300-fs pulse with an injection (seed) pulse of ≈3-4 mJ in a triple pass configuration. The output wavelength is 248 nm. The amplifier has a volume of approximately 5 liters. UV preionization was accomplished with a traveling spark board. Fast, low inductance switching of the high voltage was accomplished through the use of an electrically triggered rail-gap. Some of the design and tradeoffs of the electrical pulse discharge circuitry, considerations related to the materials used, the optics, gas handling, timing requirements, and some experimental results are discussed

Keywords

X-ray lasers; excimer lasers; fusion reactor ignition; krypton compounds; 20 ns; 248 nm; 250 to 350 mJ; 300 fs; 5 J; KrF; UV preionized excimer; X-ray laser; electrical pulse discharge circuitry; electrically triggered rail-gap; experimental results; gas handling; high voltage; injection; laser amplifier; laser design; laser testing; low inductance switching; materials; maximum instantaneous power; on-target laser power density; optics; output wavelength; seed; testing; timing requirements; traveling spark board; Inductance; Optical amplifiers; Optical design; Power amplifiers; Power lasers; Pulse amplifiers; Sparks; Testing; Voltage; X-ray lasers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Fusion Engineering, 1991. Proceedings., 14th IEEE/NPSS Symposium on

Conference_Location

San Diego, CA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-0132-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/FUSION.1991.218665

Filename

218665