Paper 13358-23
Paper 13358-23
Development of high energy and high average power diode pumped laser drivers for Inertial Fusion Energy systems (Invited Paper)
28 January 2025 • 2:00 PM - 2:30 PM PST | Moscone South, Room 76 (Lower Mezz)
Abstract
The talk covers the development of inertial fusion energy (IFE) drivers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from the first system specifically designed to meet requirements of IFE drivers. The Mercury Laser Project goals were to develop key technologies within an architecture that could be scalable to multi-kilojoule applications including 10Hz repetition rate with high efficiency and reliability. In 2006 the Mercury system achieved the significant milestone of operation continuously for several hours at 60J and 10Hz. Armed with this knowledge along with technological improvements, a full-scale beam line was conceptually designed to meet powerplant requirements. This system used modest extensions of existing laser technology to ensure near term feasibility and showed predicted performance that meets or exceeds the baseline design point: 2.2-MJ pulse energy produced by 384-beamlines at 16-Hz, with 18% wall-plug efficiency. High reliability and maintainability are achieved by implementing compact line-replaceable laser units to maintain system availability.
Presenter
Andrew J. Bayramian
Seurat Technologies (United States)
Andrew Bayramian, Ph.D. is currently Chief Scientist at Seurat Technologies since 2018. He draws on over 30 years of experience in high average power, high energy, pulsed laser systems including roles as lead architect and chief scientist designing, building, and commissioning high power lasers at Seurat Technologies and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). His work is described in over 130 publications, 64 patents patent applications, and is co-inventor of the core additive manufacturing technology upon which Seurat Technologies is based. He received a BS in Physics from Montana State University-Bozeman and a PhD in Applied Science from the University of California Davis. Andrew is a true believer in nuclear fusion – it is the reason he built a laser in high school, pursued physics in college, and has been the driving force behind nearly every laser development in his career.