Large volume multiple-pass nuclear pumped laser

Abstract

The paper describes research efforts at the Langley Research Center to study large volume, volumetric pumped laser systems and methods to extract lasing energy from these systems. Nuclear lasing has been achieved for a mixture of 800 torr He-3-Ar (1% Ar) with a peak thermal flux of 2.9 x 10 to the 16th n/sq cm-sec. Attention is given to the scaling of the multiple-pass box laser with increasing number of multiple passes and the scaling of laser output with path length.