title: High-contrast plasma-electrode Pockels cell.
abstract: A plasma-electrode Pockels cell (PEPC) has been developed for use on the OMEGA extended performance (EP) laser system that can be used in a high-contrast optical switch, as required for isolation of the system from retroreflected pulses. Contrast ratios reliably exceeded 500:1 locally everywhere in the clear aperture. The key to achieving this improvement was the use of circular windows simply supported on compliant O rings, which is shown to produce very low stress-induced birefringence despite vacuum loading. Reliable operation was achieved operating at a relatively high operating pressure, low operating pressures being found to be strongly correlated to occurrences of local loss of plasma density.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Laser Energetics University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623-12299, USA. bkru@lle.rochester.edu
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Kruschwitz
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Shoup Iii
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Waxer
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Cost
authors.forename: E T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: Z M
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Hoyt
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Taniguchi
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Walker