Demonstration of 2.5 J, 10 Hz, nanosecond laser beam combination system based on non-collinear Brillouin amplification.

Abstract

We demonstrated a four-beam combined laser system based on Brillouin amplification with a nanosecond output of 2.5 J at a 10 Hz repetition rate. We used simulations and experiments to assess factors affecting the energy extraction efficiency of non-collinear Brillouin amplification. Our results indicate that higher efficiency can be achieved by adding pump beams to the Brillouin amplification process, which enhances optical field intensity and interaction strength. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of a multi-beam combination system based on Brillouin amplification with an output of joule level energy, high peak power and nanosecond pulses in 10Hz repetitive operation.