No abstract available

[en] The testing program leading to selection of antireflection coatings for the NOVA laser is reviewed. Limiting problems that prevented use of some coating technologies are described, and estimates are made of the current value of pursuing solutions to those problems

[en] A major risk factor that must be considered in design of the National Ignition Facility is the possibility for catastrophic self-focusing of the 351-nm beam in the silica optical components that are in the final section of the laser. Proposed designs for the laser are analyzed by the beam-propagation code PROP92. A 351-nm self-focusing experiment, induction of tracking damage, was done to provide data for validation of this code. The measured self-focusing lengths were correctly predicted by the code

[en] A laser system for producing intense variable duration short pulses in the range of 0.1 to 3.0 nanoseconds is described. The laser system utilizes a Michelson interferometer set for maximum reflection at the lasing frequency as one end element. A phase or amplitude switch is placed in the cavity in front of the interferometer in order to change the input to the interferometer resulting in a pulse out of the interferometer whose duration is given by twice the difference in path length of the interferometer arms divided by the speed of light. (U.S.)

[en] The results of damage threshold measurements made at LLNL using ultraviolet wavelength laser pulses are reviewed. Measurements were made with pulses from a krypton fluoride laser with wavelength of 248 nm and pulse duration of 20 ns and with Nd-glass laser pulses converted to the third harmonic wavelength of 355 nm with duration of 0.6 ns. Measurements are presented for transparent window materials, crystals and harmonic generation, single layer dielectric films of oxide and fluoride materials and multilayer high reflectivity and antireflective coatings

[en] Experiments were performed on the 100-J class Optical Sciences Laser (OSL) at LLNL to characterize the saturation fluence and small-signal gain of a solid-state Nd:glass amplifier utilizing LG-750 and LG-770, an amplifier glass developed for the National Ignition Facility (NIF). These high quality measurements of gain saturation at NIF level fluences, i.e., 10-15 J/cm², provide essential parameters for the amplifier performance codes used to design NIF and future high power laser systems. The small-signal gain, saturation fluence and square-pulse distortion were measured as a function of input fluence and pulse length in platinum-free LG-750 and LG-770. The input fluence, output fluence, small-signal gain and passive losses were measured to allow calculation of the saturation fluence. Least square fits of the output vs. input fluence data using a Frantz-Nodvik model was used to obtain an average saturation fluence for each data set. Overall, gain saturation in LG-750 and LG-770 is comparable at long pulse lengths. For shorter pulse length, < 5 ns, LG-770 exhibits a stronger pulse length dependence than LG-750, possibly due to a longer terminal level lifetime. LG-770 also has a higher cross- section, which is reflected by its slightly higher extraction efficiency. 52 refs., 11 figs., 2 tabs

[en] Large aperture, beryllium substrate-based mirrors have been used to focus high intensity pulsed laser beams. Finished surfaces have high reflectivity, low wavefront distortion, and high laser damage thresholds. This paper describes the development of a series of metallic coatings, surface finishing techniques, and dielectric overcoatings to meet specified performance requirements. Beryllium substrates were coated with copper, diamond-machined to within 5 micro-inches to final contour, nickel plated, and abrasively figured to final contour. Bond strengths for several bonding processes are presented. Dielectric overcoatings were deposited on finished multimetallic substrates to increase both reflectivity and the damage thresholds. Coatings were deposited using both high and low temperature processes which induce varying stresses in the finished coating substrate system. Data are presented to show the evolution of wavefront distortion, reflectivity, and damage thresholds throughout the many steps involved in fabrication

[en] In this paper we present experimental measurements and theoretical modeling of third harmonic (3ω) conversion efficiency with optical bandwidth. Third harmonic conversion efficiency drops precipitously as the input bandwidth significantly exceeds the phase matching limitations of the conversion crystals. For Type I/Type II frequency tripling, conversion efficiency be-gins to decrease for bandwidths greater than ∼60 GHz. However, conversion efficiency corresponding to monochromatic phase-matched beams can be recovered provided that the instantaneous Propagation vectors are phase matched at all times. This is achieved by imposing angular spectral dispersion (ASD) on the input beam via a diffraction grating, with a dispersion such that the phase mismatch for each frequency is zero. Experiments were performed on the Optical Sciences Laser (OSL), a 1--100 J class laser at LLNL. These experiments used a 200 GHz bandwidth source produced by a multipassed electro-optic phase modulator. The spectrum produced was composed of discrete frequency components spaced at 3 GHz intervals. Angular dispersion was incorporated by the addition of a 1200 gr/mm diffraction grating oriented at the Littrow angle, and capable of rotation about the beam direction. Experiments were performed with a pulse length of 1-ns and a 1ω input intensity of ∼ 4 GW/cm² for near optimal dispersion for phase matching, 5.2 μrad/GHz, with 0.1, 60, and 155 GHz bandwidth, as well as for partial dispersion compensation, 1.66 μrad/GHz, with 155 GHz and 0.1 GHz bandwidth. The direction of dispersion was varied incrementally 360 degrees about the beam diameter. The addition of the grating to the beamline reduced the narrowband conversion efficiency by approximately 10%

[en] We have completed a database of average-power, laser-induced, damage thresholds at 1064 nm on a variety of materials. Measurements were made with a newly constructed laser to provide design input for moderate and high average-power laser projects. The measurements were conducted with 16-ns pulses at pulse-repetition frequencies ranging from 6 to 120 Hz. Samples were typically irradiated for time ranging from a fraction of a second up to 5 minutes (36,000 shots). We tested seven categories of samples which included antireflective coatings, high reflectors, polarizers, single and multiple layers of the same material, bare and overcoated metal surfaces, bare polished surfaces, and bulk materials. The measured damage threshold ranged from < 1 J/cm² for some metals to > 46 J/cm² for a bare polished glass substrate. 4 refs., 7 figs., 1 tab

[en] The disks of Nd:doped phosphate glass in the amplifiers of the Nova laser contain platinum particles with sizes ranging from <5 μm (detection limit) to about 100 μm. The particle density varies from about 0.01 to 1.0 cm^-3. These particles cause fractures when irradiated at fluences >2.5 J/cm² delivered in 1-ns, 1054-nm pulses. Under repeated irradiation at 5 to 7 J/cm², damage from small (<5 μm) particles asymptotically approaches a limiting size, but damage surrounding the larger particles grows steadily. The damage threshold fluence, 2.5 J/cm², corresponds to operation of Nova at one-half the desired output for pulse durations longer than 1 nsec. Operation at higher fluences causes accumulation of damage in the output amplifiers and requires replacement of the disks in those amplifiers on an accelerated schedule. 9 refs., 5 figs