Abstract
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) preamplifier (figure 1) is an intermediate stage of amplification between the fiber oscillator and the main Ndrglass slab multipass amplifiers. The preamplifier module (PAM) will amplify the light from approximately 1 nJ up to a maximum injection energy of 17 J before the beam is split into four beamlines that provide a final 1.053-μm energy of 20 kJ/beamline. In this high-gain regime the PAM is a two-stage amplifier with a regenerative amplifier in the first stage producing 15-20 mJ at 1 Hz. This energy is then amplified again to the higher energies when needed through a four-pass 5-cm Nd:glass rod amplifier. The PAM is a line replaceable unit made to be rugged enough to operate for an extended period of time without maintenance. During this extended period of semi-autonomous, computer controlled operation the PAM must be capable of amplifying a variety of temporal and spatial pulse shapes while always meeting a stringent set of temporal, spatial, wavefront, and pointing requirements.
© 2002 Optical Society of America
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