Abstract
Laser drivers are an enabling factor to inertial confinement fusion, because laser diodes must be used instead of flash lamps. We discuss the limitations of laser diode arrays and show what steps the industry is taking. The pump power requirements of large-scale projects such as LIFE or HiPER are within reach of semiconductor laser diode assemblies. Pulsed light output powers per laser bars have been around 300 W per bar, as in the Jenoptik 940 nm bars previously used for pumping the Yb:YAG slabs in the DiPOLE project. By redesigning the semiconductor laser structures 500 W per bar is now commercially available for 808, 880 and 940 nm pump wavelengths. The construction of one inertial fusion power plant will require an amount of semiconductor laser chips in excess of the current annual production by two orders of magnitude. This adds to the engineering task of improving the device characteristics a challenge to production capacity. While the industry benefits from the recent boost in solid-state lighting that acts as a technology driver, cooperation between manufacturers will be imperative, and to this end we propose standardization efforts.
Highlights
Inertial fusion energy (IFE) requires semiconductor laser diode production and system integration on a large scale
Until laser ignition is shown, these two studies represent the best estimates for the requirements of an IFE power plant on the diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) systems
Regarding the projects driven by 880 nm pump sources, Figure 1 shows that the GOLD[10] and ELI beamlines L3 projects are designed to work more than an order of magnitude below the pump pulse energy and the average power estimated for LIFE
Summary
Inertial fusion energy (IFE) requires semiconductor laser diode production and system integration on a large scale. Regarding the projects driven by 880 nm pump sources, Figure 1 shows that the GOLD[10] and ELI beamlines L3 projects are designed to work more than an order of magnitude below the pump pulse energy and the average power estimated for LIFE. Instead, it has been a concern of pump diode development to raise the output power of individual laser diode chips. Progress in semiconductor laser technology allows to increase the power per bar to 500 W on a production scale, as will be discussed below This will permit another step up in pump power without increasing the size of the optics
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