Front End for Advanced Laser Driver for Inertial Fusion Energy

IFE offers to tap almost unlimited sources of inexpensive energy. This new energy source would free the U.S. from the dependence on hydrocarbon fuels, the use of which produces green-house gases (GHG). The proposed EPDL laser driver would greatly advance the ICF maturity and its transition to commercial IFE for generation of electricity. Availability of low-cost and non-polluting electric power would revolutionize transportation and manufacturing sectors, thus boosting the overall economy. Reduced dependence on hydrocarbon fuels would also reduce to size overstated importance of hydrocarbon-producing countries, thus, improving geopolitical balance. The proposed technology also offers to advance laser acceleration of nuclear particles, thus replacing the traditional mammoth-size and costly accelerator research facilities with room-size devices. Compactness and relative simplicity of laser accelerators promises to greatly reduce the cost and timelines of high-energy research, and advance new scientific discoveries. As particle research could become affordable for universities or even commercial laboratories, the U.S. would be able to maintain leadership. In Phase II Aqwest will develop a suitable front end and test it with the "advanced IFE driver module" now being developed by Aqwest under a separate DOE grant. This work will focus on the preamplifier which would boost a beam from a commercial fiber laser to the energies required for injection into the main amplifier modules. The preamplifier will also use the edge pumped disk laser (EPDL) technology used in the main amplifier modules, but instead of gas cooling, it will be cooled by liquid to accommodate increased heat load in the high-gain disks. In Phase II, we will operate the front end with one or more of the "advanced IFE driver modules" to deliver one of the most energetic laser beams in the US. The proposed project would greatly advance the realization of the inertial confinement fusion and its transition to commercial inertial fusion energy by using Aqwet’s innovative EPDL while leveraging prior and present Department of Defense investment. In commercial applications, EPDL offers to supplant the German-made thin disk laser, which has been the dominant technology for laser material processing for the last 10 years. Key Words: Laser acceleration, drive laser, particle accelerator, Summary for members of Congress: This project will develop a novel edge-pumped disk laser that would greatly advance the realization of the inertial confinement fusion and its transition to commercial inertial fusion energy for generation of electricity, which would free the U.S. from the dependence on hydrocarbon fuels and reduce production of green-house gases (GHG).