Alignment And Focusing Device For A Multibeam Laser System

William C. Sweatt

doi:10.1117/12.959474

31 December 1980 Alignment And Focusing Device For A Multibeam Laser System

William C. Sweatt

Proceedings Volume 0251, Optical Alignment I; (1980) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.959474
Event: 24th Annual Technical Symposium, 1980, San Diego, United States

Abstract

Large inertial confinement fusion laser systems have many beams focusing on a small target. The Antares system is a 24Ã¢â‚¬â€?beam CO2 pulse laser. To produce uniform illumination, the 24 beams must be individually focused on (or near) the target's surface in a symmetric pattern. To assess the quality of a given beam, we will locate a Smartt (point diffraction) interferometer at the desired focal point and illuminate it with an alignment laser. The resulting fringe pattern shows defocus, lateral misalignment, and beam aberrations; all of which can be minimized by tilting and translating the focusing mirror and the preceding flat mirror. The device described in this paper will remotely translate the Smartt interferometer to any position in the target space and point it in any direction using a two axis gimbal. The fringes produced by the interferometer are relayed out of the target vacuum shell to a vidicon by a train of prisms. We are designing four separate "snap in" heads to mount on the gimbal; two of which are Smartt interferometers (for 10.6 pm and 633 nm) and two for pinholes, should we wish to put an alignment beam backwards through the system.

Citation Download Citation

William C. Sweatt "Alignment And Focusing Device For A Multibeam Laser System", Proc. SPIE 0251, Optical Alignment I, (31 December 1980); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.959474

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