High-energy krypton fluoride lasers for inertial fusion

Obenschain, S. P.; Lehmberg, R. H.; Kehne, D.; Hegeler, F.; Wolford, M. F.; Sethian, J. D.; Weaver, James L.; Karasik, M.

doi:10.1364/ao.54.00f103

Cited by 62 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 93 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…ISKRA-5 36 is an iodine laser that is the previous generation of LUCH. ELECTRA, NIKE, and Super-ASHURA are high-power excimer lasers 37 . LUCIA and Diode Pumped Optical Laser Experiment (DiPOLE) are Yb:YAG ceramic laser systems that were developed as a part of the HiLASE project 27 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Process design of microdomains with quantum mechanics for giant pulse lasers

Sato

Akiyama

Taira

2017

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The power scaling of laser devices can contribute to the future of humanity. Giant microphotonics have been advocated as a solution to this issue. Among various technologies in giant microphotonics, process control of microdomains with quantum mechanical calculations is expected to increase the optical power extracted per unit volume in gain media. Design of extensive variables influencing the Gibbs energy of controlled microdomains in materials can realize desired properties. Here we estimate the angular momentum quantum number of rare-earth ions in microdomains. Using this process control, we generate kilowatt-level laser output from orientation-controlled microdomains in a laser gain medium. We also consider the limitations of current samples, and discuss the prospects of power scaling and applications of our technology. This work overturns at least three common viewpoints in current advanced technologies, including material processing based on magnetohydrodynamics, grain-size control of transparent polycrystals in fine ceramics, and the crystallographic symmetry of laser ceramics in photonics.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Process design of microdomains with quantum mechanics for giant pulse lasers

Sato

Akiyama

Taira

2017

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…ArF is thus a potentially disruptive technology for laser fusion that shares many technologies with the krypton fluoride (KrF) laser (248 nm) used on the Nike laser system at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) [1]. The ArF laser would use similar electron beam pumping to that used for large KrF amplifiers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct drive with the argon fluoride laser as a path to high fusion gain with sub-megajoule laser energy

Obenschain

Schmitt

Bates

et al. 2020

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Argon fluoride (ArF) is currently the shortest wavelength laser that can credibly scale to the energy and power required for high gain inertial fusion. ArF's deep ultraviolet light and capability to provide much wider bandwidth than other contemporary inertial confinement fusion (ICF) laser drivers would drastically improve the laser target coupling efficiency and enable substantially higher pressures to drive an implosion. Our radiation hydrodynamics simulations indicate gains greater than 100 are feasible with a sub-megajoule ArF driver. Our laser kinetics simulations indicate that the electron beam-pumped ArF laser can have intrinsic efficiencies of more than 16%, versus about 12% for the next most efficient krypton fluoride excimer laser. We expect at least 10% ‘wall plug' efficiency for delivering ArF light to target should be achievable using solid-state pulsed power and efficient electron beam transport to the laser gas that was demonstrated with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's Electra facility. These advantages could enable the development of modest size and lower cost fusion power plant modules. This would drastically change the present view on inertial fusion energy as being too expensive and the power plant size too large. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Prospects for high gain inertial fusion energy (part 1)'.

show abstract

“…High-power laser is of great interest for inertial confinement fusion [1][2][3], industrial processing [4,5], optoelectronic countermeasures [6], strong-field physics [7,8], and scientific research [9][10][11][12]. As an important factor related to the beam quality, a uniform wavefront is conducive to maintaining the high quality spatial distribution in propagation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wavefront Shaping by a Small-Aperture Deformable Mirror in the Front Stage for High-Power Laser Systems

Zhou

Cui

et al. 2017

Applied Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:We demonstrate a method for wavefront distribution compensation with a low-cost small-aperture deformable mirror in the front stage of a complex high-power solid-state laser system. Meanwhile, an iterative algorithm for improving wavefront quality is indicated. Using this method, the wavefront compensation was studied in our single-shot high-power laser system that operated with and without the main amplifiers, respectively. The wavefront was compensated effectively, showing the near-flopped-shape output with the peak-to-valley value of 0.29 λ and root meam square (RMS) of 0.06 λ at 1053 nm.

show abstract

High-energy krypton fluoride lasers for inertial fusion

Cited by 62 publications

References 93 publications

Process design of microdomains with quantum mechanics for giant pulse lasers

Process design of microdomains with quantum mechanics for giant pulse lasers

Direct drive with the argon fluoride laser as a path to high fusion gain with sub-megajoule laser energy

Wavefront Shaping by a Small-Aperture Deformable Mirror in the Front Stage for High-Power Laser Systems

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About