HiPER laser architecture principles

Abstract

The HiPER project [1] is in a preliminary phase and a risk assessment is being conducted for a generic HiPER beamline concept - this is based on an anticipated requirement for a single beamline (or focal spot unit) drawn from the best available knowledge we have to date of the fusion physics requirement. For the moment the general architecture is to first order independent of the specific beamline implementation (i.e compression phase or ignition phase) as the fundamental requirements are very similar. In this paper we are describing the laser beamline as a bundle of unit beams (or beamlets) and we are explaining that optical zooming is quite possible especially in the case of shock ignition. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.