Temporal compression of mode-locked pulses for laser-fusion diagnostics
Abstract
Regenerative compression of mode-locked laser pulses has been developed to provide a temporally short probe pulse for diagnosing laser-fusion plasmas. A single mode-locked pulse injected into a regenerative amplifier is compressed by an intracavity saturable dye. Analysis indicates the best operational mode and choice of experimental parameters. Experiments using Nd:YAG and Eastman A9740 dye demonstrate an eightfold compression from 120 to 15 ps with a shot-to-shot stability of plus or minus 4 percent. An oscillator/regenerative compressor system demonstrates a 15 ps probe pulse synchronized within plus or minus 5 ps to a 1000 ps target-heating pulse.
- Publication:
-
IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics
- Pub Date:
- September 1981
- DOI:
- 10.1109/JQE.1981.1071315
- Bibcode:
- 1981IJQE...17.1713M
- Keywords:
-
- Laser Fusion;
- Laser Mode Locking;
- Plasma Diagnostics;
- Pulse Compression;
- Ultrashort Pulsed Lasers;
- Dye Lasers;
- Laser Stability;
- Neodymium Lasers;
- Numerical Integration;
- Picosecond Pulses;
- Plasma Probes;
- Yag Lasers;
- Lasers and Masers