Two diagnostics have been developed to improve the uniformity on the OMEGA Laser System, which is used for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) research. The first diagnostic measures the phase of an optical modulator (used for the spectral dispersion technique employed on OMEGA to enhance spatial smoothing), which adds bandwidth to the optical pulse. Setting this phase precisely is required to reduce pointing errors. The second diagnostic ensures that the arrival times of all the beams are synchronized. The arrival of each of the 60 OMEGA beams is measured by placing a 1-mm diffusing sphere at target chamber center. By comparing the arrival time of each beam with respect to a reference pulse, the measured timing spread of the OMEGA Laser System is now 3.8 ps.

Date Published: 19 September 2016
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 9966, Target Diagnostics Physics and Engineering for Inertial Confinement Fusion V, 996607 (19 September 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2237053

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9966:
Target Diagnostics Physics and Engineering for Inertial Confinement Fusion V
Jeffrey A. Koch; Gary P. Grim, Editor(s)