Nike laser

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Final amplifier of the Nike laser where laser beam energy is increased from 150 J to ~5 Kj by passing through a krypton/fluorine/argon gas mixture excited by irradiation with two opposing 670,000 volt electron beams.

The Nike laser at the United States Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC is a 56 beam, 4-5 Kj per pulse electron beam pumped krypton fluoride excimer laser which operates in the ultraviolet at 248 nm with pulsewidths of a few nanoseconds. Nike was completed in the late 1980s and is used for investigations into inertial confinement fusion. By using a KrF laser with induced spatial incoherence (ISI) optical smoothing, the modulations in the laser focal profile (beam intensity anisotropy) are only 1% in one beam and < 0.3% with a 44-beam overlap. This feature is especially important for minimizing the seeding of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities in the imploding fusion target capsule plasma.

Nike laser final mirror array and lens array that direct the laser beams onto target.

See also

• United States Naval Research Laboratory
• Excimer laser
• Krypton fluoride laser
• List of laser types