This book covers the history of lasers with nuclear pumping (Nuclear Pumped Lasers, NPLs). This book showcases the most important results and stages of NPL development in The Russian Federal Nuclear Center (VNIIEF) as well as other Russian and international laboratories, including laboratories in the United States. The basic science and technology behind NPLs along with potential applications are covered throughout the book. As the first comprehensive discussion of NPLs, students, researchers, and application engineers interested in high energy lasers will find this book to be an extremely valuable source of information about these unique lasers.

This book focuses on Nuclear-Pumped Laser (NPL) technology and provides the reader with a fundamental understanding of NPLs, a review of research in the field and exploration of large scale NPL system design and applications. Early chapters look at the fundamental properties of lasers, nuclear-pumping and nuclear reactions that may be used as drivers for nuclear-pumped lasers. The book goes on to explore the efficient transport of energy from the ionizing radiation to the laser medium and then the operational characteristics of existing nuclear-pumped lasers. Models based on Mathematica, explanations and a tutorial all assist the reader’s understanding of this technology. Later chapters consider the integration of the various systems involved in NPLs and the ways in which they can be used, including beyond the military agenda. As readers will discover, there are significant humanitarian applications for high energy/power lasers, such as deflecting asteroids, space propulsion, power transmission and mining. This book will appeal to graduate students and scholars across diverse disciplines, including nuclear engineering, laser physics, quantum electronics, gaseous electronics, optics, photonics, space systems engineering, materials, thermodynamics, chemistry and physics.

The first direct nuclear pumped laser to operate on a visible wavelength is described, whereas previous nuclear lasers have operated in the infrared. The Sandia Pulsed Reactor II was used as a high flux source of neutrons that pumped a helium-mercury gas laser via the high energy products of the /sup 10/B(n, .cap alpha.)/sup 7/Li nuclear reaction. No other source of energy was utilized. Lasing was observed at 6150 A, corresponding to the 7/sup 2/P/sub 3/2/--7/sup 2/S/sub /sup 1///sub 2// mercury ion transition. The thermal neutron flux threshold for lasing was approximately 1 x 10/sup 16/n/cm/sup 2/-sec, and the laser output was continuous over the 400 .mu.sec operating time of the nuclear reactor. The laser signal appeared to increase linearly with the thermal neutron flux, up to 5.8 x 10/sup 16/n/cm/sup 2/-sec, the highest flux used.