Kinetic modelling of krypton fluoride laser systems

A kinetic model has been developed for the KrF* rare gas halide laser system, specifically for electron-beam pumped mixtures of krypton, fluorine, and either helium or argon. The excitation produced in the laser gas by the e-beam was calculated numerically using an algorithm checked by comparing the predicted ionization yields in the pure rare gases with their experimental values. The excitation of the laser media by multi-kilovolt x-rays was also modeled and shown to be similar to that produced by high energy electrons. A system of equations describing the transfer of the initial gas excitation into the laser upper level was assembled using reaction rate constants from both experiment and theory. A one-dimensional treatment of the interaction of the laser radiation with the gas was formulated which considered spontaneous and stimulated emission and absorption. The predictions of this model were in good agreement with the fluorescence signals and gain and absorption measured experimentally

Optical characterization of damage resistant kilolayer'' rugate filters

Multilayer dielectric optical coatings produced by high temperature plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition (PCVD) have been previously shown to have very high surface and bulk damage thresholds (above 40J/cm{sup 2}). Because these experimental coatings are deposited on tubular substrates, conventional wavelength scanning cannot accurately measure the coating peak reflectance and bandwidth. Measurement of the variation of transmittance with incidence angle at fixed wavelength permits analysis of the coating spectral response. The results indicate that the PCVD coatings behave as nearly ideal'' rugate filters. Their optical performance agrees well with that predicted for a rugate by Southwell's coupled-wave theory and by the characteristic-matrix model. These 1000-layer-pair filters have maximum reflectances exceeding 99.9%, peak reflectance wavelengths within 0.5% of the design wavelength, and FWHM bandwidths narrower than 10 nm. Minor perturbations to the ideal rugate sinusoidal profile do not appreciably affect the coating optical performance. Comparison with calculations suggest that the only significant deviation of the PCVD structure from that of an ideal rugate is a small (0.7%) drift in the index period. Excellent optical performance and high damage resistance makes PCVD rugate coatings potentially useful for several high power laser applications. 13 refs., 7 figs

A 3-dimensional ray-trace model for predicting the performance of flashlamp-pumped laser amplifiers

We have developed a fully three-dimensional model for the performance of flashlamp pumped laser amplifiers. The model uses a reverse ray-trace technique to calculate the pumping of the laser glass by the flashlamp radiation. We have discovered several different methods by which we can speed up the calculation of the gain profile in a amplifier. The model predicts the energy-storage performance of the Beamlet amplifiers to better than 5%. This model will be used in the optimization of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) amplifier design

Laser coupling to reduced-scale targets at NIF Early Light

Deposition of maximum laser energy into a small, high-Z enclosure in a short laser pulse creates a hot environment. Such targets were recently included in an experimental campaign using the first four of the 192 beams of the National Ignition Facility [J. A. Paisner, E. M. Campbell, and W. J. Hogan, Fusion Technology 26, 755 (1994)], under construction at the University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. These targets demonstrate good laser coupling, reaching a radiation temperature of 340 eV. In addition, the Raman backscatter spectrum contains features consistent with Brillouin backscatter of Raman forward scatter [A. B. Langdon and D. E. Hinkel, Physical Review Letters 89, 015003 (2002)]. Also, NIF Early Light diagnostics indicate that 20% of the direct backscatter from these reduced-scale targets is in the polarization orthogonal to that of the incident light

X-ray flux and X-ray burnthrough experiments on reduced-scale targets at the NIF and OMEGA lasers

An experimental campaign to maximize radiation drive in small-scale hohlraums has been carried out at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawerence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA, USA) and at the OMEGA laser at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (Rochester, NY, USA). The small-scale hohlraums, laser energy, laser pulse, and diagnostics were similar at both facilities but the geometries were very different. The NIF experiments used on-axis laser beams whereas the OMEGA experiments used 19 beams in three beam cones. In the cases when the lasers coupled well and produced similar radiation drive, images of x-ray burnthrough and laser deposition indicate the pattern of plasma filling is very different