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Title: Design of the energy storage system for the High Energy Gas Laser Facility at LASL

Conference ·
OSTI ID:5238184

The Antares laser is being built in the High Energy Gas Laser Facility (HEGLF) at Los Alamos to continue laser fusion experiments at very high power. The laser medium will be pumped by an electrical discharge, which requires an energy input of about 5 MJ in a few microseconds at about 500 kV. The energy storage system which will provide the pulsed power will be a bank of high-voltage pulse-forming networks. Tradeoff studies have been performed comparing the performance of multi-mesh networks with single-mesh networks. The single-mesh network requires about 20% more energy than a two-mesh network, but will tolerate three times the inductance of a two-mesh network. Analysis also shows that amplifier gain is not sensitive to impedance mismatch among the pulse-forming network, the transmission cables, and the gas discharge. A prototype pulse-forming network is being built to test components and trigger performance. It is a Marx generator storing 300 kJ at 1.2 MV open circuit, with 3 ..mu..H internal inductance.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-36
OSTI ID:
5238184
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-77-2419; CONF-771029-37; TRN: 78-005029
Resource Relation:
Conference: 7. symposium on fusion research project, Knoxville, TN, USA, 25 Oct 1977
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English