EUROLASER: Hochleistungsfestkoerperlaser. Modularer 3 kW Nd:YAG Laser und Applikationsuntersuchungen Abschlussbericht

The construction of a modular 3 kW solid state laser and the coupling of 3 single beams by a beam multiplexing unit into a common beam is described. The characteristic performance and the beam quality of the lasersystem is discussed. An improvement of the fiber connector for the beam guiding optical fiber is proposed. Applications in laser welding of stainless steel and aluminium with pulsed laser radiation are compared to results of cw mode of operation at a power level of 2 kW. Results of a CO_2-laser are included. (orig.)SIGLEAvailable from TIB Hannover: F96B694+a / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekBundesministerium fuer Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie, Bonn (Germany); European Union (Euro), Brussels (Belgium)DEGerman

Intense ion beams as a tool for opacity measurements in warm dense matter

Opacity measurements in warm dense matter (WDM) provide a valuable benchmark for the diverging theoretical models in this regime. Heating of thin foils with intense heavy-ion beams allows one to create isolated samples of warm dense matter suitable for experimental determination of frequency-dependent opacities. A prerequisite for the measurements is the isothermal expansion of the heated foil. Hydrodynamic simulations predict that this condition is fulfilled. The analysis shows that existing ion-beam accelerators are capable to contribute to this field of research

Commissioning and early experiments of the PHELIX facility

At the Helmholtz center GSI, PHELIX (Petawatt High Energy Laser for heavy Ion eXperiments) has been commissioned for operation in stand-alone mode and, in combination with ions accelerated up to an energy of 13 MeV/u by the heavy ion accelerator UNILAC. The combination of PHELIX with the heavy-ion beams available at GSI enables a large variety of unique experiments. Novel research opportunities are spanning from the study of ion–matter interaction, through challenging new experiments in atomic physics, nuclear physics, and astrophysics, into the field of relativistic plasma physics