High-energy flat-top beams for laser launching using a Gaussian mirror

Applied Optics
Hiroki FujiwaraDana D Dlott

Abstract

Converting a Gaussian to a flat-top beam is useful for many applications including laser-launched thin-foil flyer plates. A flat-top beam is needed to maintain a constant launch velocity across the flyer; otherwise, the flyer can disintegrate in flight. Here we discuss and demonstrate the use of a variable reflectivity mirror (VRM) with a Gaussian reflectivity profile with an additional hard aperture and compare it to a refractive beam shaper. An ideal VRM would generate a flat-top beam with 37% efficiency. Readily available high-power Gaussian or super-Gaussian mirrors create an approximate flat-top profile, but there is a trade-off between flatness and efficiency. We show that a super-Gaussian mirror can, in principle, convert an input Gaussian beam with 30% efficiency to a flat-top beam with 3% (maximum-to-minimum) variation. With a Gaussian mirror and a high-energy pulsed Nd:YAG laser having relatively poor beam quality, we generate flat-top beams with 25% conversion efficiency having 6% variation (standard deviation sigma=4.2%). The beams are used to launch 400 microm diameter, 25 microm thick Al flyer plates, whose flight was monitored by a high-speed displacement interferometer. The plates flew across a 300 microm gap at...Continue Reading

References

Nov 1, 1994·Physical Review. E, Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics·M KoenigS Bossi
May 17, 2007·The Review of Scientific Instruments·A R ValenzuelaK A Thomas
Mar 5, 2008·The Review of Scientific Instruments·Dennis L PaisleyAaron C Koskelo
Dec 3, 2008·The Review of Scientific Instruments·Jidong WengCangli Liu

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Citations

Nov 7, 2012·The Review of Scientific Instruments·Kathryn E BrownDana D Dlott
May 3, 2014·The Review of Scientific Instruments·Alexander D CurtisDana D Dlott
Jan 12, 2011·Annual Review of Physical Chemistry·Dana D Dlott
Oct 17, 2017·Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, Image Science, and Vision·Chung-Yu Tsai
Feb 6, 2017·Applied Optics·Steven W DeanJennifer L Gottfried

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