Power balancing a multibeam laser

Journal Article · Wed May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Proc. SPIE

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2506823· OSTI ID:1515071

Sampat, Siddharth ^[1]; Kosc, Tanya Z. ^[1]; Bauer, Katelynn ^[1]; Dean, Richard ^[1]; Donaldson, William R. ^[1]; Kwiatkowski, Joseph ^[1]; Moshier, Robert ^[1]; Rigatti, Amy ^[1]; Romanofsky, Mark ^[1]; Waxer, Leon J. ^[1]; Kelly, John H. ^[1]; Haefner, Constantin L. ^[1]; Awwal, Abdul A. ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States). Lab. for Laser Energetics

Multibeam lasers often require an output beam balance that specifies the degree of simultaneity of the laser output energy, instantaneous power, or instantaneous irradiance (power per unit area). Here, this work describes the general problem of balancing a multibeam laser. Specific techniques used to balance the output power of the 60-beam pulsed OMEGA Laser System are discussed along with a measured reduction of beam-to-beam imbalance. In particular, the square-pulse distortion induced by a simple saturating amplifier operating with its output at some fraction of its saturation fluence is derived, and a method to exchange gain between saturated amplifiers in a single beam that have different saturation fluences to adjust balance is described.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States). Lab. for Laser Energetics
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• Grant/Contract Number: NA0001944
• OSTI ID: 1515071
• Report Number(s): 2018-218,1497; 2018-218, 1497, 2457
• Journal Information: Proc. SPIE, Vol. 10898; Conference: SPIE LASE 2019, San Francisco, CA (United States), 2-7 Feb 2019
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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