Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 March 2009
A Gw-level high-power CO2 laser system has been developed. A short laser pulse is cut out with a double Pockels cell electrooptical shutter from a hybrid CO2 laser oscillator and amplified with a three-stage dual-path TEA preamplifier, a two-stage TEA preamplifier, a large aperture TEA amplifier, and an electron beam-controlled final amplifier. All parts of the laser system are controlled with a control system. The laser output power is up to 3.2 × 109 W and laser pulse width is 4 ns full width at half maximum.