The neodymium-doped glass laser

The neodymium-doped laser is one of the most used in the world to study laser-matter interactions in dense and hot plasmas and to carry out experiments to realize controlled thermonuclear fusion. The principle of this laser is presented and its operation is studied. Nonlinear effects and self focussing phenomena are observed. The general design of chains of high-energy lasers is described and the roles of the different components are analyzed: oscillators, devices to form the pulse shape, device to control the spatial quality of the beam, anti-return devices. A table presenting the mean characteristics of neodymium lasers operating either in the United States (Lawrence Livermore Laboratory), in Great Britain (Rutherford Lab), in the Soviet Union (Lebedev Institut), in Japan or in France (Research Center of Limeil) is presented.