Neodymium aprotic liquid laser. Final technical report 16 Feb 1970--16 Mar 1971

Technical Report · Sat May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1971

OSTI ID:7112830

Foster, J D; Kirk, R F

The results of a research and development program directed at achieving high average power operation from a transverse flow Nd:POCl/sub 3//sup 3/;ZrCl/sub 4/ liquid laser are presented. Theoretical calculation of expected performance predicted over 50 joules long pulse output at greater than 3 percent efficiency. Transverse flow was expected to allow operation at 10 Hz and higher. A flowing system was designed using materials compatible with the corrosive liquid. Many problems were encountered in getting a leak-free assembly with these limited materials. The flowing system was filled, outgassed and operated. Problems of scattering in the liquid, corrosion of critical laser components by the corrosive POCl3 vapor and breakage severely limited the results obtained. Q-switched operation at 4 to 8 MW peak power and 45 nsec pulse width was obtained. Single shot, 300 microsec width pulsed output energies of 12 joules were obtained at around 0.37 percent efficiency. Threshold was just obtained at 10 Hz.

• Research Organization: GTE Sylvania, Inc., Mountain View, CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: F33615-70-C-1415
• OSTI ID: 7112830
• Report Number(s): AD-885919
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
NEODYMIUM LASERS
OPERATION
CORROSION
EFFICIENCY
OXYCHLORIDES
PHOSPHORUS COMPOUNDS
POWER
Q-SWITCHING
ZIRCONIUM CHLORIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHLORIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
LASERS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SOLID STATE LASERS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
ZIRCONIUM COMPOUNDS
420300* - Engineering- Lasers- (-1989)