High-contrast plasma-electrode Pockels cell.
Appl Opt
; 46(8): 1326-32, 2007 Mar 10.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-17318253
ABSTRACT
A plasma-electrode Pockels cell (PEPC) has been developed for use on the OMEGA extended performance (EP) laser system that can be used in a high-contrast optical switch, as required for isolation of the system from retroreflected pulses. Contrast ratios reliably exceeded 5001 locally everywhere in the clear aperture. The key to achieving this improvement was the use of circular windows simply supported on compliant O rings, which is shown to produce very low stress-induced birefringence despite vacuum loading. Reliable operation was achieved operating at a relatively high operating pressure, low operating pressures being found to be strongly correlated to occurrences of local loss of plasma density.
Search on Google
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
Appl Opt
Year:
2007
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States