New amplifier glass developed in collaboration with Schott Technologies, part of Germany“s Schott Group, will help boost the performance of a new laser built by the US Department of Energy at its Law…
New amplifier glass developed in collaboration with Schott Technologies, part of Germany“s Schott Group, will help boost the performance of a new laser built by the US Department of Energy at its Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. The solid-state pulsed laser images satellites, make plasmas for X-ray lithography, hardens steel and removes graffiti from cement. The laser-amplifier glass will increase output beam powers by a factor of 2.5, according to the project“s manager, Brent Dane. What makes such performance possible is the improved laser amplifier and a “phase conjugator.” The latter is a simple device: a glass cell filled with carbon tetrachloride that restores distorted laser-beam wavefronts to extremely high-resolution at the output end without using computers or mirror actuators. The conjugator can combine the power of several laser amplifiers in one laser output beam. The Livermore Laboratory is building a four-amplifier device that will produce a laser with beam powers well above 1,000 watts.