Pulsed Power System for the Orion High Power Laser

• Authors: M. Mead , S. Moncho-Banuls , S. Pottier , J. Brasile
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This paper describes the design and testing of the pulsed power system for the Orion Laser, which will be used for high temperature and density plasma physics research. The system supplies 8 MJ of energy to laser amplifiers and Faraday rotators. It consists of 17 capacitor bank modules, each with up to sixteen 150 μF charge storage capacitors, 25 kV power supply and controls. The energy is delivered by spark-gap switches to give a pre-pulse to ionise the flashlamps and a main pulse of 490 μs. The system delivers 5 shots a day with less than 0.2% variation in charge voltage.

Keywords

EN

42.60.By; 84.60.Ve

Discipline

• 42.60.By: Design of specific laser systems
• 84.60.Ve: Energy storage systems, including capacitor banks(see also 82.47.Uv Electrochemical capacitors; supercapacitors, and 88.80.F- Energy storage technologies)

• Publisher: Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Acta Physica Polonica A
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 115
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 978-979

Dates

published

2009-06

Contributors

author

M. Mead

• AWE, Aldermaston, Reading, Berksire, RG7 4PR, UK

author

S. Moncho-Banuls

• Thales Communications, 160 Boulevard de Valmy, Colombes 92704, France

author

S. Pottier

• Thales Communications, 160 Boulevard de Valmy, Colombes 92704, France

author

J. Brasile

• Thales Communications, 160 Boulevard de Valmy, Colombes 92704, France

References

• 1. C. Edwards, Project Orion, Modernising Defence - Defence Management Journal, Issue 34, http://www.defencemanagement.com/journal.asp
• 2. D.A. Pepler, P. Holligan, C.J. Reason, W.J. Lester, R.W.W. Wyatt, CLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Central Laser Facility Annual Report 01 (2000)
• 3. P. Michalczyk, C. Friel, C. Vincent, J.P. Marret, J.M. Mexmain, D. Rubin de Cervens, P. Pere, Proceedings of 14th IEEE International Pulse Power Conference, 2003
• 4. R.G. Hohlfeld, W. Manning, D.A. MacLennan, Applied Optics 22, 13 (1983)

Identifiers

DOI

10.12693/APhysPolA.115.978