Operation and beam profiling of an up to 200 kHz pulse-burst laser for Thomson scattering.

ABSTRACT

A new, high-repetition rate laser is in development for use on the Thomson scattering diagnostic on the Madison Symmetric Torus. The laser has been tested at a rate of 200 kHz in a pulse-burst operation, producing bursts of 5 pulses above 1.5 J each, while capable of bursts of 17 pulses at 100 kHz. A master oscillator-power amplifier architecture is used with a NdYVO4 oscillator, four NdYAG amplifiers, and a Ndglass amplifier. A radial profile over the pulse sequence is measured by using a set of graphite apertures and an energy meter, showing a change in beam quality over a pulsing sequence.