Design and performance of the beamlet amplifiers
In future laser systems, such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF), multi-segment amplifiers (MSAs) will be used to amplify the laser beam to the required levels. As a prototype of such a laser architecture, the authors have designed, built, and tested flash-lamp-pumped, Nd:Glass, Brewster-angle slab MSAs for the Beamlet project. In this article, they review the fundamentals of Nd:Glass amplifiers, describe the MSA geometry, discuss parameters that are important in amplifier design, and present our results on the characterization of the Beamlet MSAs. In particular, gain and beam steering measurements show that the Beamlet amplifiers meet all optical performance specifications and perform close to model predictions.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 376936
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-LR--105820-95; ON: DE96013181
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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