THE NIKE ELECTRON-BEAM-PUMPED KRF LASER-AMPLIFIERS

Nike is a recently completed multikilojoule krypton-fluoride (KrF) las er that has been built to study the physics of direct-drive inertial c onfinement fusion. The two final amplifiers of the Nike laser are both electron-beam-pumped systems. This paper describes these two amplifie rs, with an emphasis on the pulsed power, The smaller of the two has a 20 x 20 cm aperture, and produces an output laser beam energy in exce ss of 100 J, This 20 cm Amplifier uses a single 12 kJ Marx generator t o inject two 300 kV, 75 kA, 140 ns flat-top electron beams into opposi te sides of the laser cell, The larger amplifier in Nike has a 60 x 60 cm aperture, and amplifies the laser beam up to 5 kJ, This 60 cm ampl ifier has two independent electron beam systems. Each system has a 170 kJ Marx generator that produces a 670 kV, 540 kA, 240 ns flat-top ele ctron beam, Both amplifiers are complete, fully integrated into the la ser, meet the Nike system requirements, and are used routinely for las er-target experiments.