Development of high-power DPSSL and its application

Abstract

Driver technology is a key issue for Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) development. A diode pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) is expected to be a promising candidate of reactor driver for IFE. The specifications required for the IFE driver are 2-5 MJ output pulse energy, 10-20 Hz repetition rate, 500-200 nm laser wavelength, and >10% electrical efficiency. We have newly designed a Nd:YAG DPSSL driver module based on a water cooled zig-zag path slab amplifier, which can deliver 10 kJ output energy at 350 nm with 12 Hz repetition. The module consists of 15 beamlets and each beamlet is a double 4-pass amplifier system as it plays a role of both pre-amplifier (4-pass) and main amplifier (4-pass). The laser driver producing a 4 MJ blue output consists of 400 modules.