Fifteen terawatt picosecond CO2 laser system.
The generation of a record peak-power of 15 TW (45 J, 3 ps) in a single CO(2) laser beam is reported. Using a master oscillator-power amplifier laser system, it is shown that up to 100 J of energy can be extracted in a train of 3 ps laser pulses separated by 18 ps, a characteristic time of the CO(2) molecule. The bandwidth required for amplifying the short injected laser pulse train in a 2.5 atm final CO(2) amplifier is provided by field broadening of the medium at intensities of up to 140 GW/cm(2). The measured saturation energy for 3 ps pulses is 120 mJ/cm(2) which confirms that energy is simultaneously extracted from six rovibrational lines.
Haberberger
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Neptune Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California Los Angeles, 420 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA. dhaberberger@ucla.edu
Tochitsky
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S
Joshi
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C
D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004867:Equipment Design; D054020:Lasers, Gas; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D009991:Oscillometry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D013997:Time Factors; D014732:Vibration
D002245:Carbon Dioxide