Use of induced spatial incoherence for uniform illumination of laser fusion targets

We report a technique to achieve very uniform illumination of laser irradiated targets by inducing a controlled amount of transverse spatial incoherence in the output beam of a broadband laser. The spatial incoherence is created by imposing different optical delays upon different transverse sections...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inOptics communications Vol. 46; no. 1; pp. 27 - 31
Main Authors Lehmberg, R.H., Obenschain, S.P.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 01.06.1983
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Summary:We report a technique to achieve very uniform illumination of laser irradiated targets by inducing a controlled amount of transverse spatial incoherence in the output beam of a broadband laser. The spatial incoherence is created by imposing different optical delays upon different transverse sections of the beam, and choosing the delay increments to be larger than the laser coherence time t c =1/ δν. This technique may allow easy attainment of the pellet illumination uniformity required for laser fusion.
ISSN:0030-4018
1873-0310
DOI:10.1016/0030-4018(83)90024-X