Pulsed Power Aspects of the NIF Plasma Electrode Pockels Cell

Conference · Thu Jun 09 04:00:00 EDT 2005

OSTI ID:877815

Arnold, P A; Ollis, C W; Hinz, A F; Barbosa, F; Fulkerson, E S

The Plasma Electrode Pockels Cell (PEPC) embodies technology essential to the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Together with a thin-film polarizer, PEPC functions as an optical switch for the main amplifier cavity, allowing optical pulses to be trapped, and then released, and enabling NIF to take advantage of the attendant gain and cost-savings. Details of the genesis, development, and prototyping of the PEPC are well documented. After moving from its laboratory setting to the NIF facility, PEPC--via its performance during the two-year NIF Early Light (NEL) campaign and its ongoing operation during facility build-out--has proven to be a fully functional system. When complete, NIF will accommodate 192 beams, capable of delivering 1.8 MJ to a fusion target. Forty-eight Plasma Electrode Pockels--driven by nearly 300 high-power, high-voltage pulse generators--will support this complement of beams. As deployed, PEPC is a complex association of state-of-the-art optics; low-voltage and high-voltage electronics; and mechanical, gas, and vacuum subsystems--all under computer control. In this paper, we briefly describe each of these elements, but focus on the pulse power aspects of the PEPC system.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 877815
• Report Number(s): UCRL-CONF-212872
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
AMPLIFIERS
COMPUTERS
ELECTRODES
FUNCTIONALS
OPTICS
ORIGIN
PERFORMANCE
PLASMA
POCKELS CELL
US NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY