Direct nuclear-pumped lasers using the He-3/n,p/H-3 reaction

DeYoung, Russell J.; Jalufka, N. W.; Höhl, F.

doi:10.2514/6.1978-66

Cited by 5 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The foregoing model is used to study a 3 He-Xe laser, and the results are compared with the experiments of De Young et al 6 For a given pressure, temperature, neutron flux, mole fraction, and cavity, one can predict the number densities of the various species and quantum states considered and intensities. This, in turn, yields the gain coefficients and power output.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Direct Nuclear Pumping by a Volume Source of Fission Fragments

Deese

Hassan

1978

AIAA Journal

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A detailed kinetic model is presented for the analysis of nuclear pumped lasers when the pumping is a result of a volume source of fission fragments. The results of the model are employed to study a 3 He-Xe laser. For the range of the pressures, neutron fluxes, and mixtures considered, the gain and power calculations are in good agreement with experiment. Moreover, based on these calculations, it appears that collisional recombination is the dominant pumping mechanism.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The results are compared with available experiments. 6 Considering the uncertainties in the various rates and cross sections, the predictions are deemed to be in good agreement with experiment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Direct Nuclear Pumping by a Volume Source of Fission Fragments

Deese

Hassan

1978

AIAA Journal

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“…A NPL with visible output was developed in 1977 by a University of Illinois/Sandia team using an He-Hg charge exchange scheme [20]. Even shorter wavelengths were predicted when Miley's team reported in 1978, for the first time, that gain had been measured with nuclear pumping of excimers [55].…”

Section: Follow-up Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Preliminary systems studies were then performed to study NPL scaling to large sizes and large powers with a source configuration that retained existing pulsed reactor technology [8,18]. An early attempt at scaling of the cooled CO laser used a "folded path laser" apparatus, which lased at a power~100 W. [20]. These systems lased on atomic transitions where inversion occurred by collisional radiative recombination of the noble gas atomic ions.…”

Section: Development Milestonesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comments About Nuclear-Pumped Laser Research in the United States

Melnikov¹,

Sizov²,

Sinyanskiǐ³

et al. 2014

Lasers With Nuclear Pumping

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A Review of Nuclear Pumped Lasers and Applications (Asteroid Deflection)

Prelas¹,

Wattermann²,

Wisniewski³

et al.

2014 ASEE Annual Conference &Amp; Exposition Proceedings

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A graduate course focused on bringing cutting edge research into the classroom, titled Nuclear Pumped Lasers and applications, was taught at the University of Missouri in 1991 as a topics course; due to renewed interests in high power/high energy lasers for civilian applications, the course has been updated with new research and is being offered in the spring of 2014. Nuclear-Pumped Laser (NPL) technology was a part of the strategic defense initiative (SDI) program in the 1980's. NPLs have since faded from the United States research agenda but they remain an active part of the research agenda in other countries, notably in Russia and other nations in the former Soviet Union as well as China [1] which has a cooperative agreement with Russia [2]. The reason for this broad interest in the technology is that a NPL can scale to high power/energy levels (potentially up to 100 MW Continuous Wave (CW) beam power). Military applications have historically dominated the NPL research agenda. However, there are significant humanitarian applications for high power/energy lasers. For example a high power CW NPL would have the capability to deflect asteroids or comets. Other important applications are in space propulsion, power transmission, and asteroid mining. Despite the promise, there are significant problems in NPL development [3, 4]. High power/high energy gas lasers by their nature require high pumping power densities (defined as the Watts/cm 3 deposited in the laser medium). That is why many of the most powerful gas lasers are pulsed. Nuclear-pumping does not generate high power densities as compared to electrical pumping, but it does generate high energy densities. This limits the type of high power/high energy gas laser systems that can be driven by NPL technologies. Other issues involve the size and scale of NPLs using gas laser technology as well as the design of reactor cores dedicated to the production of laser beams. Several promising approaches were developed including the development of nuclear-driven flashlamps [5] which can increase the effective pumping power density through photon focusing and thus open up new possibilities for both gaseous and solid-state high power/high energy laser systems.

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Direct nuclear-pumped lasers using the He-3/n,p/H-3 reaction

Abstract: Direct nuclear pumping of gas l a s e r s has been achieved using t h e 3He(n,p)3H n u c l e a r r e a c t i o n .

Cited by 5 publications

References 11 publications

Direct Nuclear Pumping by a Volume Source of Fission Fragments

Direct Nuclear Pumping by a Volume Source of Fission Fragments

Comments About Nuclear-Pumped Laser Research in the United States

A Review of Nuclear Pumped Lasers and Applications (Asteroid Deflection)

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