Recent progress on the Los Alamos Aurora ICF (inertial confinement fusion) laser system
Aurora is the Los Alamos short-pulse, high-power, krypton-fluoride laser system. It serves as an end-to-end technology demonstration prototype for large-scale ultraviolet laser systems for short wavelength inertial confinement fusion (ICF) investigations. The system is designed to employ optical angular multiplexing and serial amplification by electron-beam-driven KrF laser amplifiers to deliver stacked, 248-nm, 5-ns duration multikilojoule laser pulses to ICF-relevant targets. This paper presents a summary of the Aurora system and a discussion of the progress achieved in the construction and integration of the laser system. We concentrate on the main features of the following major system components: front-end lasers, amplifier train, multiplexer, optical relay train, demultiplexer, and the associated optical alignment system. During the past year, two major construction and integration tasks have been accomplished. The first task is the demonstration of 96-beam multiplexing and amplified energy extraction, as evidenced by the integrated operation of the front end, the multiplexer (12-fold and 8-fold encoders), the optical relay train, and three electron-beam-driven amplifiers. The second task is the assembly and installation of the demultiplexer optical hardware, which consists of over 300 optical components ranging in size from several centimeters square to over a meter square. 13 refs., 13 figs.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 5668574
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-88-154; CONF-871254-2; ON: DE88005387
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Lasers '87, Lake Tahoe, NV, USA, 7 Dec 1987; Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT
KRYPTON FLUORIDE LASERS
OPTICAL SYSTEMS
AMPLIFIERS
ELECTRON BEAMS
MARX GENERATORS
PRESSURE DEPENDENCE
BEAMS
CONFINEMENT
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
EXCIMER LASERS
GAS LASERS
LASERS
LEPTON BEAMS
PARTICLE BEAMS
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
POWER SUPPLIES
700208* - Fusion Power Plant Technology- Inertial Confinement Technology