Title :
Nanosecond switching, high-contrast Pockels cell with plasma electrodes
Author :
Pronko, M.S. ; Deniz, A.V. ; Yun, V. ; Goldhar, J.
Author_Institution :
Div. of Plasma Phys., Naval Res. Lab., Washington, DC, USA
Abstract :
Summary form only given. High-contrast pulse shaping with divergent light requires a switching element that has large angular acceptance. We used a Pockels cell with a thin crystal and plasma electrodes to demonstrate less than 0.5-ns risetime and >3000:1 contrast for 248-nm light with 6 rad divergence. Symmetric compression of laser fusion pellets requires laser light that uniformly illuminates the pellet with a well controlled temporal pulse shape.
Keywords :
Pockels effect; electro-optical switches; electrodes; high-speed optical techniques; optical pulse compression; plasma production by laser; 0.5 ns; 248 nm; divergent light; high-contrast Pockels cell; high-contrast pulse shaping; large angular acceptance; laser fusion pellets; laser light; nanosecond switching; nm light; ns risetime; plasma electrodes; switching element; symmetric compression; thin crystal; uniformly illuminates; well controlled temporal pulse shape; Electrodes; Foot; Harmonic distortion; Image converters; Laser noise; Optical pulses; Plasmas; Pulse modulation; Shape control; Speckle;
Conference_Titel :
Lasers and Electro-Optics, 1996. CLEO '96., Summaries of papers presented at the Conference on
Conference_Location :
Anaheim, CA, USA
Print_ISBN :
1-55752-443-2
