Performance results of the high-gain Nd:glass engineering prototype preamplifier module (PAM) for the National Ignition Facility (NIF)

Mikael D. Martinez; Kenneth M. Skulina; Fred J. Deadrick; John K. Crane; Bryan D. Moran; John Braucht; Bobby Jones; Steven Hawkins; Ronald Tilley; James Crawford; Donald F. Browning; Frank A. Penko

doi:10.1117/12.349266

24 May 1999 Performance results of the high-gain Nd:glass engineering prototype preamplifier module (PAM) for the National Ignition Facility (NIF)

Mikael D. Martinez, Kenneth M. Skulina, Fred J. Deadrick, John K. Crane, Bryan D. Moran, John Braucht, Bobby Jones, Steven Hawkins, Ronald Tilley, James Crawford, Donald F. Browning, Frank A. Penko

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 3611, Laser Resonators II; (1999) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.349266
Event: Optoelectronics '99 - Integrated Optoelectronic Devices, 1999, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

We describe recent, energetics performance results on the engineering preamplifier module (PAM) prototype located in the front end of the 1.8 MJ National Ignition Facility laser system. Three vertically mounted subsystem located in the PAM provide laser gain as well as spatial beam shaping. The first subsystem in the PAM prototype is a diode pumped, Nd:glass, linear, TEM₀₀, 4.5 m long regenerative amplifier cavity. With a single diode pumped head, we amplify a 1 nJ, mode matched, temporally shaped (approximately equals 20 ns) seed pulse by a factor of approximately 10⁷ to 20 mJ. The second subsystem in the PAM is the beam shaping module, which magnifies the gaussian output beam of the regenerative amplifier to provide a 30 mm X 30 mm square beam that is spatially shaped in two dimensions to pre- compensate for radial gain profiles in the main amplifiers. The final subsystem in the PAM is the 4-pass amplifier which relay images the 1 mJ output of the beam shaper through four gain passes in a (phi) 5 cm X 48 cm flashlamp pumped rod amplifier, amplifying the energy to 17 J. The system gain of the PAM is 10¹⁰. Each PAM provides 3 J of injected energy to four separate main amplifier chains which in turn delivers 1.8 MJ in 192 frequency converted laser beams to the target for a broad range of laser fusion experiments.

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Mikael D. Martinez, Kenneth M. Skulina, Fred J. Deadrick, John K. Crane, Bryan D. Moran, John Braucht, Bobby Jones, Steven Hawkins, Ronald Tilley, James Crawford, Donald F. Browning, and Frank A. Penko "Performance results of the high-gain Nd:glass engineering prototype preamplifier module (PAM) for the National Ignition Facility (NIF)", Proc. SPIE 3611, Laser Resonators II, (24 May 1999); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.349266

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