Trident: a versatile high-power Nd:glass laser facility for inertial confinement fusion experiments

Abstract

The Trident Nd:glass laser system operates as an experimental facility supporting the national Inertial Confinement Fusion program at Los Alamos. The laser has two identical main beam lines with 14-cm-disk final amplifiers. The beams are frequency doubled, expanded to 19.2 cm, and focused on target with a variety of focusing optics. A third beam with 10-cm disk final amplifiers is also frequency doubled and used as a target-shooting or diagnostic beam simultaneously with the other two beams. The facility provides a flexible combination of energy, pulse-shaping capabilities, and diagnostic tools for laser-target interaction experiments.