Nike laser

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
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.
Enlarge
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.
Enlarge
Nike laser final mirror array and lens array that direct the laser beams onto target.

[edit] See also


Fusion power
v • d • e
Atomic nucleus | Nuclear fusion | Nuclear power | Nuclear reactor | Timeline of nuclear fusion
Plasma physics | Magnetohydrodynamics | Neutron flux | Fusion energy gain factor | Lawson criterion
Methods of fusing nuclei

Magnetic confinement: Tokamak - Spheromak - Stellarator - Reversed field pinch - Field-Reversed Configuration - Levitated Dipole
Inertial confinement: Laser driven - Z-pinch - Bubble fusion (acoustic confinement) - Fusor (electrostatic confinement)
Other forms of fusion: Muon-catalyzed fusion - Pyroelectric fusion - Migma - Cold fusion(disputed)
List of fusion experiments

Magnetic confinement devices
ITER (International) | JET (European) | JT-60 (Japan) | Large Helical Device (Japan) | KSTAR (Korea) | EAST (China) | T-15 (Russia) | DIII-D (USA) | Tore Supra (France) | ASDEX Upgrade (Germany) | TFTR (USA) | NSTX (USA) | NCSX (USA) | Alcator C-Mod (USA) | LDX (USA) | H-1NF (Australia) | MAST (UK) | START (UK) | Wendelstein 7-X (Germany) | TCV (Switzerland) | DEMO (Commercial)

Inertial confinement devices
Laser driven: NIF (USA) | OMEGA laser (USA) | Nova laser (USA) | Novette laser (USA) | Nike laser (USA) | Shiva laser (USA) | Argus laser (USA) | Cyclops laser (USA) | Janus laser (USA) | Long path laser (USA) | 4 pi laser (USA) | LMJ (France) | GEKKO XII (Japan) | ISKRA lasers (Russia) | Vulcan laser (UK) | Asterix IV laser (Czech Republic) | HiPER laser (European)
Non-laser driven:
Z machine (USA) | PACER (USA)

See also: International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../n/i/k/Nike_laser.html"