SEALED TUBE METAL VAPOR LASER TECHNOLOGY

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS EFFORT IS TO DEVELOP SEALED TUBE METAL VAPOR LASER TECHNOLOGY FOR MARINE CORP APPLICATIONS. NEW ALL NIOBIUMSAPPHIRE-ALUMINA SEALED TUBES ARE PROPOSED WHICH WILL BE COMPATIBLE WITH OPERATING TEMPERATURES OF 1500 DEG C WITH TEMPERATURE RECYCLING AND WITH A >3000 HOUR LIFE. SEALED TUBE DESIGNS WILL BE DEVELOPED WHICH ARE COMPATIBLE WITH BOTH LONGITUDINAL AND TRANSVERSE PUMPING OF THE COPPER VAPOR LASER. ALL SOLID STATE, SCR-COMMUTATED, NONLINEAR MAGNETICALLY-SWITCHED DRIVERS WILL ALSO BE DEVELOPED TO DRIVE THESE LASERS AS PART OF THIS EFFORT. THESE DRIVERS HAVE BEEN ESPECIALLY-DESIGNED BY SRL TO COUPLE EFFICIENTLY (>60%) TO THE RAPIDLY-VARYING ELECTRICAL LOAD ENCOUNTERED IN COPPER VAPOR LASER DISCHARGE. BY EMPLOYING SCRS RATHER THEN THYRATRONS AS COMMUTATORS, THIS PULSER WILL HAVE A SIGNIFICANTLY EXTENDED LIFE (UP TO 10(11) SHOTS) AND WILL BE SIGNIFICIANTLY MORE COMPACT AND LIGHT WEIGHT THAN THYRATRON-BASED DESIGNS. PULSERS OF THIS DESIGN HAVE ALREADY BEEN USED BY SRL FOR DRIVING HIGH AVERAGE POWER COPPER VAPOR LASERS AT LLNL. IN PHASE I OF THE PROPOSED EFFORT, THE NIOBIUM-SAPPHIREALUMINA TUBES AND ASSOCIATED PULSED POWER DRIVERS WILL BE DESIGNED IN DETAIL. IN ADDITION EXPERIMENTS WILL BE CONDUCTED TO DEMONSTRATE BONDING OF SAPPHIRE TO SAPPHIRE, SAPPHIRE TO ALUMINA, AND TO TEST SEAL DESIGNS WHICH PROVIDE A HIGH VACUUM SEAL BETWEEN ALUMINA AND NIOBIUM. IN PHASE II, A COMPLETE 1-10 WATT COPPER VAPOR LASER DEVICE WILL BE CONSTRUCTED AND TESTED.