Diode-pumped regenerative amplifier for the OMEGA laser system

Summary form only given. The 60-beam OMEGA Nd:glass-based laser irradiates ICF targets with 30-kJ UV pulses with an arbitrary temporal pulse shape predetermined by the target design. The OMEGA front-end design requires a regenerative amplifier (regen) capable of boosting the shaped pulses from the nJ level to /spl sim/400 /spl mu/J. The required output energy stability is better than 2%. The amplification must be reliable, cause minimal pulse-shape distortions, and allow output pulse-shape prediction regardless of the input pulse shape. These requirements must be demonstrated with a large safety margin to allow reliable OMEGA operation on a daily basis over a long period of time. We present the design and performance data of the diode-pumped and feedback-controlled regen for the OMEGA laser system. The efficient end-pumping geometry provides high gain and a high-quality spatial output profile. The diode-pumping and negative feedback control make the regen operation highly stable and reliable.