Pulsed power system for the orion high power laser

Abstract

This paper describes the design and testing of the pulsed power system for the Orion Laser, which will be used for high temperature and density plasma physics research. The system supplies 8 MJ of energy to laser amplifiers and Faraday rotators. It consists of 17 capacitor bank modules, each with up to sixteen 150 μF charge storage capacitors, 25 kV power supply and controls. The energy is delivered by spark-gap switches to give a, pre-pulse to ionise the flashlamps and a main pulse of 490 μs. The system delivers 5 shots a day with less than 0.2% variation in charge voltage.