A HIGH AVERAGE POWER, HIGH PEAK POWER SUBMILLIMETER LASER

A HIGH AVERAGE POWER( 1W), SHORT-PULSE (100 NS), NARROW-FREQUENCY, FAR-INFRARED (FIR) LASER DEVICE TO BE PUMPED BY A HIGH AVERAGE POWER CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) LASER SYSTEM IS BEING DEVELOPED. CALCULATIONS OF POWER REQUIRED BY A SUBMILLIMETER-WAVE ALPHA PARTICLE THOMSON SCATTERING DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF TOKAMAK FUSION DEVICES, THE INTERNATIONAL THERMONUCLEAR EXPERIMENTAL REACTOR, INDICATE THAT A FREE ELECTRON LASER AMPLIFIER IS AN ATTRACTIVE SOURCE OF SUBMILLIMETER RADIATION. A MASTER OSCILLATOR THAT PROVIDES 10 KW OF PEAK POWER AT A PULSE REPETITION RATE OF 1000 PPS PULSE REPETITION RATE IS NEEDED TO DRIVE THIS FREE ELECTRON LASER AMPLIFIER. SUCH OUTPUTS MAY BE PRODUCED BY OPTICALLY PUMPING AN FIR MEDIUM SUCH AS AMMONIA OR MONOFLUOROMETHANE WITH THE OUTPUT FROM A HIGH AVERAGE POWER CO2 LASER. BECAUSE OF GAS HEATING EFFECTS, AN FIR LASER THAT MEETS THESE REQUIREMENTS DOES NOT CURRENTLY EXIST. PHASE I EXAMINES THE FEASIBILITY OF A COMPACT, HIGH SPEED, FLOWING GAS CO2 LASER PUMPED FIR LASER DEVICE. SUCH A LASER WITH THE PROPER PEAK POWER AND PULSE RATE CHARACTERISTICS WILL PERMIT EFFICIENT GENERATION OF FIR RADIATION FOR THOMSON SCATTERING AND NONLINEAR SOLID-STATE RESEARCH APPLICATIONS.