Abstract
High-power, fast-rising pulses of hydrogen fluoride laser energy suitable for laser-fusion target interaction experiments can in principle be generated by directing an electro-optically shuttered oscillator pulse through one or more electron-beam driven amplifiers. We have constructed and successfully tested a three-stage HF master oscillator-power amplifier (MOPA) configuration using SF6-C2H6 in which an E-0 generated 4-ns-FWHM pulse was amplified in an electron-beam-excited third stage and subsequently isolated with a Brewster angle splitter. Independent experiments in which a 100-ns-FWHM pilot pulse interacted with the power amplifier demonstrated for the first time complete extraction of the available laser energy. These two results provide strong evidence that with upgrading to H2-F2, it should be possible to obtain nanosecond duration pulses with power levels sufficient for meaningful laser fusion target coupling experiments.© (1976) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.