AN ALL-SOLID-STATE FLASHLAMP DRIVER FOR INCREASED DYE LASER EFFICIENCY

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PHASE I SBIR PROGRAM IS TO DEVELOP NEW, ALL-SOLID-STATE FLASHLAMP DRIVER TECHNOLOGY WHICH INCREASES THE EFFICIENCY (TO 2%) AND LIFETIME (TO 109 SHOTS) OF FLASHLAMP-PUMPED DYE LASERS. THIS NEW DRIVER TECHNOLOGY WILL DELIVER TAILORED DRIVE PULSES TO THE FLASHLAMP LOAD WHICH ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN OPTIMUM FLASHLAMP DISCHARGE CONDITIONS DURING THE BULK OF THE DISCHARGE PULSE. THIS NEW ALL-SOLID-STATE DRIVER TECHNOLOGY IS BASED ON SCRCOMMUTATED NONLINEAR MAGNETIC PULSE COMPRESSION CIRCUITS WHICH HAVE DEMONSTRATED >10(10) SHOT RELIABILITY IN SIMILAR APPLICATIONS. IN THE PHASE I PROGRAM, FLASHLAMP EXPERIMENTS WILL BE CONDUCTED WHICH COMPARE LAMP SPECTRUM, SPECTRAL EFFICIENCY AND TOTAL ENERGY OUTPUT FOR TAILORED AND UNTAILORED DRIVE PULSES. IN THE PHASE II EFFORT, AN OPTIMIZED ALL-SOLID-STATE DRIVER WILL BE FABRICATED AND USED TO INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY AND LIFETIME OF A HIGH ENERGY, FLASHLAMPPUMPED DYE LASER. THE ALL-SOLID-STATE FLASHLAMP DRIVER TECHNOLOGY TO BE DEVELOPED IN THIS PROPOSED EFFORT WILL INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY AND EXTEND THE LIFETIME OF HIGH ENERGY FLASHLAMPS USED TO POWER DYE LASERS. FLASHLAMP-PUMPED DYE LASERS HAVE A BROAD SPECTRUM OF MEDICAL APPLICATIONS INCLUDING USES IN DERMATOLOGY, IN UROLOGY FOR LITHOTRIPSY AND IN LASER KEROTOMY.