R. Yamamoto, J. Parker, K. Allen, R. Allmon, K. Alviso, C. Barty, B. Bhachu, C. Boley, A. Burnham, R. Combs, K. Cutter, S. Fochs, S. Gonzales, R. Hurd, K. LaFortune, W. Manning, M. McClelland, R. Merrill, L. Molina, C. Parks, P. Pax, A. Posey, M. Rotter, B. Roy, A. Rubenchik, T. Soules, D. Webb
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been developing compact solid state lasers since the 1990's. One of the first lasers to be developed utilized flashlamp pumped architecture and neodymium glass as the laser gain media. In the early 2000's, a diode pumped version of the original flashlamp pumped laser was designed and built, responding to the requirements that a laser system for the military be compact in both size and weight while creating significant power (~100 kW) for the missions envisioned. This paper will discuss the evolution of solid state lasers at LLNL and provide a glimpse into the types of capabilities that could be achieved in the near future.
The Solid-State, Heat-Capacity Laser (SSHCL) program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a multi-generation
laser development effort scalable to the megawatt power levels with current performance approaching 100 kilowatts. This
program is one of many designed to harness the power of lasers for use as directed energy weapons. There are many
hurdles common to all of these programs that must be overcome to make the technology viable. There will be a in-depth
discussion of the general issues facing state-of-the-art high energy lasers and paths to their resolution. Despite the relative
simplicity of the SSHCL design, many challenges have been uncovered in the implementation of this particular system.
An overview of these and their resolution are discussed. The overall system design of the SSHCL, technological strengths
and weaknesses, and most recent experimental results will be presented.
Examples are presented of the application of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's expertise in photonics packaging. Several examples of packaged devices are described. Particular attention is given to silicon microbenches incorporating heaters and their use in semiconductor optical amplifier fiber pigtailing and packaging.
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