Abstract

There is no question but that the development of electric discharge or e-beam excited lasers, whether they be CO₂ in the infrared or excimers in the ultraviolet, have made laser technologists more aware of the important role high voltage and pulse power plays in laser development. However, except for employing lasers to synchronize electrooptical diagnostics of laser-material interaction or other such studies, the laser community, by and large, is not aware of the myriad of unique advantages offered by lasers to the pulse power technologist—advantages that stem from their noninvasive nature. Whether it be to initiate high voltage (>5-MV) discharges in many classes of material or types of device from vacuum to superconductor and from thyratron to semiconductor, lasers have as well been used to open or break conduction through resonant interaction with gas species (by controlling gas kinetics), i.e., optogalvanic processes. They are frequently used to determine the concentration and spatial distribution of dynamic plasma components. Today, pulse power on a chip is becoming advanced as laser diode output transported through optical fibers is used to trigger bulk photoconductor switches at the multi-kV, multi-kA range from femtosecond response. Lasers are also employed frequently with fiber optics as electrical diagnostics whether it be for mapping electric field distributions or accurately determining temporal waveforms by the Pockels effect or for current by the Faraday effect, all with an RFI insensitivity unmatched by contact probes. But perhaps the greatest application is in modular systems such as frozen-wave generators, the precision triggering of phased arrays, or multimodule particle beam fusion devices. The scope of use is expanding, not only because of the surgical application and sensitivity of laser devices but because of their inherent safety by remote or noncontact application.

© 1989 Optical Society of America