The atomic iodine laser, a high power gas laser

An introduction to the basic features of the high-power laser and its design criteria is given. Special attention is paid to laser fusion requirements. These are: short pulse generation, good amplifier isolation, low prepulse energy and high beam quality. Also the prospects for scaling this laser to output energies in the multi-kJ range and for improving its efficiency are discussed. Finally the realization of a high power laser is described by explaining the construction and the performance of the Asterix III 1 TW laser routinely in use at present for target experiments.