Picosecond Raman Pulse Combining And Compression In Light Guides For Ultra-High Power Laser Systems

J R M Barr; N J Everall; C J Hooker; J P Partanen; M J Shaw

doi:10.1117/12.943812

8 April 1988 Picosecond Raman Pulse Combining And Compression In Light Guides For Ultra-High Power Laser Systems

J R M Barr, N J Everall, C J Hooker, J P Partanen, M J Shaw

Proceedings Volume 0874, Nonlinear Optical Beam Manipulation, Beam Combining, and Atmospheric Propagation; (1988) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.943812
Event: 1988 Los Angeles Symposium: O-E/LASE '88, 1988, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Abstract

This paper presents a design study for an ultra-high power () 1015 Watt) laser system based on multiple short pulse amplification in KrF lasers followed by coherent summation in a Raman amplifier. A gaseous Raman medium contained in a light guide is employed for pump beam averaging. Group velocity dispersion between pump and Stokes in such a system is shown to be capable of being used to advantage to obtain pulse compression in the picosecond region. The use of Raman media in the transient regime is shown to overcome problems due to second Stokes generation. A simple expression for the transient Raman threshold is developed and is shown to agree well with experiments. Thresholds for Raman generation in CH4, H2, NH3 and SF6 for 20ps pulses at 249nm are reported. In addition, preliminary results for the amplification of single KrF laser pulses of a few psec duration up to energies of ca 2.5 J are presented. These results demonstrate very effectively the unsuitability of KrF as a medium for single pulse amplification, and highlight the necessity to employ multiple-pulse extraction and beam combining techniques in order to efficiently extract energy from the amplifier and to decouple the target from amplified spontaneous emission (ASE).

Citation Download Citation

J R M Barr, N J Everall, C J Hooker, J P Partanen, and M J Shaw "Picosecond Raman Pulse Combining And Compression In Light Guides For Ultra-High Power Laser Systems", Proc. SPIE 0874, Nonlinear Optical Beam Manipulation, Beam Combining, and Atmospheric Propagation, (8 April 1988); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.943812

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