Third-harmonic performance of the Beamlet prototype laser

Paul J. Wegner; Charles E. Barker; John A. Caird; Sham N. Dixit; Mark A. Henesian; Lynn G. Seppala; Calvin E. Thompson; Bruno M. Van Wonterghem

doi:10.1117/12.294323

8 December 1997 Third-harmonic performance of the Beamlet prototype laser

Paul J. Wegner, Charles E. Barker, John A. Caird, Sham N. Dixit, Mark A. Henesian, Lynn G. Seppala, Calvin E. Thompson, Bruno M. Van Wonterghem

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 3047, Solid State Lasers for Application to Inertial Confinement Fusion: Second Annual International Conference; (1997) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.294323
Event: Second International Conference on Solid State Lasers for Application to ICF, 1996, Paris, France

Abstract

The Beamlet laser is a nearly full-scale, single-aperture prototype of the driver design for the National Ignition Facility (NIF). As part of a test and validation plan for the NIF design, Beamlet was recently equipped with final focusing optics and diagnostics for the purpose of evaluating integrated component performance and equivalent target-plane irradiance conditions at the 0.351-micrometers output wavelength specified for NIF targets. A 37-cm aperture two- crystal converter scheme generates the third harmonic of the Nd:glass 1.053-micrometers wavelength with high efficiency. The efficiency of the converter has been characterized and is reported, along with detailed measurements of the near-field and far-field UV irradiance distributions at operating conditions up to and exceeding red-line levels for the NIF. Dependences of observed beam quality on critical laser parameters including output power, B-integral, and spatial filtering are discussed and compared with numerical simulations.

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Paul J. Wegner, Charles E. Barker, John A. Caird, Sham N. Dixit, Mark A. Henesian, Lynn G. Seppala, Calvin E. Thompson, and Bruno M. Van Wonterghem "Third-harmonic performance of the Beamlet prototype laser", Proc. SPIE 3047, Solid State Lasers for Application to Inertial Confinement Fusion: Second Annual International Conference, (8 December 1997); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.294323

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