A NARROW LINE, HIGH AVERAGE POWER CO2 LASER FOR PUMPING FAR-INFRARED LASER MEDIA

HIGH AVERAGE POWER AND HIGH PEAK POWER FAR-INFRARED (FIR) PULSES MAY BE GENERATED BY OPTICALLY PUMPING A SUITABLE GAS (E.G., AMMONIA) WITH HIGH POWER, SPECTRALLY NARROW PULSES PRODUCED BY A CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) LASER DEVICE. THE FIR PULSES MAY BE AMPLIFIED BY A FREE-ELECTRON LASER AMPLIFIER TO A POWER LEVEL APPROPRIATE AS A RADIATION SOURCE IN AN ALPHA PARTICLE THOMSON SCATTERING DIAGNOSTIC FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF TOKAMAK FUSION DEVICES. SUCH AN APPLICATION REQUIRES A 10 KW PEAK FIR POWER WITH A PULSE LENGTH OF AT LEAST 50 NSEC TO MATCH THE FREE ELECTRON LASER CHARACTERISTICS. A 10 MW PEAK POWER CO2 LASER IS REQUIRED TO PRODUCE FIR PULSES OF THIS POWER LEVEL. THE CO2 LASER KINETICS DICTATE THAT THE 10.6 UM PULSELENGTH WILL BE 100 NSEC IN A CONVENIENT HYBRID LASER SYSTEM. FINALLY, THE CO2 LASER WILL BE DESIGNED FOR A PULSE REPETITION RATE OF 1 KHZ TO PERMIT PULSE AVERAGING IN AN ALPHA PARTICLE DIAGNOSTIC AND A TIME RESOLUTION OF 100 MSEC. THESE REQUIREMENTS RESULT IN A 1 KW AVERAGE POWER FORTHE CO2 LASER. SUCH A LASER DOES NOT CURRENTLY EXIST. PHASE I WILL EXAMINE THE FEASIBILITY OF A COMPACT CO2 PUMP LASER DEVICE THAT EMPLOYS ALL SOLID STATE DRIVER TECHNOLOGY.