Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation

My first experience with lasers was at an exibit in Nela Park
which is a test facility of General Electric.

This was around 1963, shortly after the first Ruby laser was invented.

The purity of the lasers color, in this case deep Red, left an indelible impression on me and I knew somehow, even then, that someday I would have a relationship with them.

Now, more than a few years later, I look back at my acquaintance with
"A solution looking for a problem".

Lasers come in all sizes, shapes and colors (wavelengths).

There are lasers which use solids, liquids and gases as thier
active medium and I have worked on nearly all of them.

Below are several examples of Gas Lasers.

Typical Helium-Neon Laser

This is a table-top size device (~2 Meter Cavity), currently under construction,
which is capable of producing several hundred watts of continuous light.

A similar device which I once controlled could cut 3/4" stainless-steel
at about the same rate that you would write your name.

Aurora Laser Final Amplifier

In contrast, the Aurora Laser (Final Amplifier shown above) was pulsed and produced
a beam only 5 Nano-seconds (billionths of a second) long or roughly 5 feet.

Keep in mind that light travels approximately 186,272 miles per second.

One late evening we measured several Trillion watts from Auroras final amplifier.

Aurora Segmented Output Window	Aurora 44" Diamond-Turned Al. Mirror

Eventually a one piece Fused Quartz window and a glass mirror
(combined cost ~$1.2 M) replaced what you see above.

The Aurora Fusion Laser Project was the last and (argueably) most ambitous
of the Large Scale Laser Fusion Devices built by Los Alamos National Labratory.

In order of construction these included:
Single Beam System (SBS)
Gemini (2 beams)
Helios (8 beams)
Antares (designed as 72 beams, built with 24)
Aurora (96 beams)

Antares Main Amplifier Bay	Antares Target Chamber

All LANL Fusion Devices were pulsed Carbon-Dixoide (CO2) which lases at 10.6 microns except Aurora which used Krypton-Flouride (KrF) and lased at 1/4 micron or 248 Angstroms.

I am proud to have been involved with several generations of LANLs large scale Fusion Lasers though disappointed with the political environment which ultimately ended it in 1991.

Anything I could say about being one of the operators of Aurora,
which occupied a building several football fields in size, would be an understatement.

If you have specific questions, I will try to answer them.

"Laser techs do it with mirrors."

See also http://lxrdesign.biz/FUSION.htm

Become a Laser Technician >>>