This PDF file contains the front matter associated with SPIE Proceedings Volume 9990 including the Title Page, Copyright information, Table of Contents, Introduction, and Conference Committee listing.

The possible use of lasers as weapons becomes more and more interesting for military forces. Besides the generation of high laser power and good beam quality, also safety considerations, e. g. concerning eye hazards, are of importance. The MELIAS (medium energy laser in the “eye-safe” spectral domain) project of ISL addresses these issues, and ISL has developed the most powerful solid-state laser in the "eye-safe" wavelength region up to now. „Eye safety” in this context means that light at a wavelength of > 1.4 μm does not penetrate the eye and thus will not be focused onto the retina. The basic principle of this technology is that a laser source needs to be scalable in power to far beyond 100 kW without a significant deterioration in beam quality. ISL has studied a very promising laser technology: the erbium heat-capacity laser. This type of laser is characterised by a compact design, a simple and robust technology and a scaling law which, in principle, allows the generation of laser power far beyond megawatts at small volumes. Previous investigations demonstrated the scalability of the SSHCL and up to 4.65 kW and 440 J in less than 800 ms have been obtained. Opticalto- optical efficiencies of over 41% and slope efficiencies of over 51% are obtained. The residual thermal gradients, due to non perfect pumping homogeneity, negatively affect the performance in terms of laser pulse energy, duration and beam quality. In the course of the next two years, ISL will be designing a 25 to 30 kW erbium heat-capacity laser.

Experiments on power scaling of Diode Pumped Alkali Lasers (DPALs) revealed some limiting parasitic effects such as alkali cell windows and gain medium contamination and damage, output power degradation in time and others causing lasing efficiency decrease or even stop lasing¹ . These problems can be connected with thermal effects, ionization, chemical interactions between the gain medium components and alkali cells materials. Study of all these and, possibly, other limiting effects and ways to mitigate them is very important for high power DPAL development. In this talk we present results of our experiments on temperature measurements in the gain medium of operating Cs DPAL at different pump power levels in the range from lasing threshold to the levels causing damage of the alkali cell windows. For precise contactless in situ temperature measurements, we used an interferometric technique, developed in our lab² . In these experiments we demonstrated that damage of the lasing alkali cell starts in the bulk with thermal breakdown of the hydrocarbon buffer gas. The degradation processes start at definite critical temperatures of the gain medium, different for each mixture of buffer gas. At this critical temperature, the hydrocarbon and the excited alkali metal begin to react producing the characteristic black soot and, possibly, some other chemical compounds, which both harm the laser performance and significantly increase the harmful heat deposition within the laser medium. This soot, being highly absorptive, is catastrophically heated to very high temperatures that visually observed as bulk burning. This process quickly spreads to the cell windows and causes their damage. As a result, the whole cell is also contaminated with products of chemical reactions.

A theoretical model based on common pump structure is proposed to analyze the laser output characteristics of DPAL (Diode pumped alkali vapor laser) and XPAL (Exciplex pumped alkali laser) in this paper. The model predicts that an optical-to-optical efficiency approaching 80% can be achieved for continuous-wave four- and five-XPAL systems with broadband pumping which is several times of pumped linewidth for DPAL. Operation parameters including pumped intensity, temperature, cell’ s length, mixed gas concentration, pumped linewidth and output mirror reflectivity are analyzed for DPAL and XPAL systems basing on the kinetic model. The result shows a better performance in Cs-Ar XPAL laser with requirements of relatively high Ar concentration, high pumped intensity and high temperature. Comparatively, for Cs-DPAL laser, lower temperature and lower pumped intensity should be acquired. In addition, the predictions of selection principal of temperature and cell’s length are also presented. The conception of the equivalent “alkali areal density” is proposed in this paper. It is defined as the product of the alkali density and cell’s length. The result shows that the output characteristics of DPAL (or XPAL) system with the same alkali areal density but different temperatures turn out to be equal. It is the areal density that reflects the potential of DPAL or XPAL systems directly. A more detailed analysis of similar influences of cavity parameters with the same areal density is also presented. The detailed results of continuous-wave DPAL and XPAL performances as a function of pumped laser linewidth and mixed gas pressure are presented along with an analysis of influences of output coupler.

A new concept of a space-based-laser (SBL) defense system is proposed. It is based on a chemical oxygen laser (COL) which has been investigated to achieve its oscillation ^1-3). A COL is suitable as a high energy laser (HEL) directed energy weapon (DEW) ⁴) because it could produce a giant pulse of ~0.1 ms which can damage a target by a single shot without producing plasma during the propagation. However since the beam cannot propagate for a long distance due to the absorption in air, it should be used in space considering the capability of operation without electric power supply. Therefore a new SBL defense system using a COL is proposed in order to destroy a ballistic missile in its boost phase. It is based on an SBL at geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) with the altitude of ~36,000 km. Since the beam needs to propagate for a long distance, the focused beam diameter is ~8 m even if the initial beam diameter is 8 m. Therefore an 8 m-diameter focusing mirror, carried by a high altitude airship (HAA) flying at the altitude of more than 20 km, could be used to focus the beam at the target. Although such a large focusing mirror is necessary, the focused spot size can be <1 cm at 30 km away. Thus, much less than 100 kJ pulse can cause a fatal damage. Unlike a conventional SBL defense system based on SBLs and/or relay-mirror satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), the new defense system needs only a single SBL and a single relay mirror HAA (RM HAA) to intercept a ballistic missile if the enemy is a small country since the HAA can always stay close to the enemy’s missile site. Another concept of the defense system is also proposed, which is based on a COL equipped with anther HAA because a COL can be lightweight. These geostationary defense systems can also intercept a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) if the submarine’s location is monitored.

We report on the results of an experimental study of Ti:Sapphire pumped Cs laser and theoretical modeling of these results, where we focused on the influence of the pump-to-laser beam overlap, a crucial parameter for optimizing the output laser power. Non monotonic dependence of the laser power (optimized over the temperature) on the pump beam radius was observed with a maximum achieved at the ratio ~ 0.7 between the pump and laser beam radii. The optimal temperature decreased with increasing pump beam radius. Maximum laser power > 370 mW with an optical-to-optical efficiency of 43% and slope efficiency ~ 55% was obtained. A simple optical model of the laser, where Gaussian spatial shapes of the pump and laser intensities in any cross section of the beams were assumed, was compared to the experiments. Good agreement was obtained between the measured and calculated dependence of the laser power on the pump power at different pump beam radii and also of the laser power, threshold pump power and optimal temperature on the pump beam radius. The model does not use empirical parameters such as mode overlap efficiency but rather the pump and laser beam spatial shapes as input parameters. The present results combined with results of the application of the model to K DPAL and Ti:Sapphire pumped Cs laser, indicate that the model can describe the operation of different optically pumped alkali lasers with arbitrary spatial distributions of the pump and laser beam widths.

Two kinds of anti-laser coating made of reflective / ablative resin, called reinforcement schemes of A and B, are applied to the glass fiber reinforced resin matrix composite plate. The anti-laser performance of these samples to the laser operated at the wavelength of 976nm is tested, under the case of a 0.3 Mach tangential airflow pass over the surface of the sample. The experimental results show that the laser damage threshold of the coating reinforced samples have increased more than 50% compared to the original sample, the reinforcement scheme B is better than A. The laser power density damage threshold of the coating reinforced samples to the near infrared laser is higher than 100W/cm², under the irradiation time is 60 seconds. For the resin reinforced fiber samples, the removal process of the ablation residues has important effects on the perforation time of samples, when there is a strong airflow pass over the surface. The larger laser spot corresponding to the removal of the ablation residues is easier.

Laser safety regulating the deployment of kW-class high energy laser (HEL) technologies in outdoor applications can rapidly cause significant planning and operations issues due to the ranges involved. Safety templates based on the American National Standard Institute (ANSI) rules can easily result in ranges of tens of kilometers for kW-class lasers. Due to the complexity of HEL-matter interactions, the assumptions underlying the aforementioned approach are however deemed inappropriate. In this paper, we identify a more suitable approach backed by experimental results.

The development of reliable techniques for the safe neutralization of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) is an active field of research. Recently, innovative approaches for the neutralization of IEDs were developed and tested within the FP7 project ENCOUNTER (“Explosive Neutralisation and Mitigation Countermeasures for IEDs in Urban/Civil Environment”) and were compared to existing, established technologies. Here, the ENCOUNTER project is presented with a special focus on the neutralization of IEDs by high-power lasers.

The working principle of the application of high-power lasers for the neutralization of explosive devices is based on thermal effects. Heating of the IEDs main charge may occur either by direct irradiation of the explosive material or by heat transfer through the main charge’s confinement. The aim of the application of the laser is to achieve a low order burning reaction of the explosive charge and thus a controlled neutralization of the IED. Since laser beams allow for the directed transport of energy, this technique can be applied over long stand-off distances and has thus potential for an increase of the safety of clearing forces and population in the case of terroristic attacks in a civilian environment.

Within the ENCOUNTER project, a laboratory environment has been set up which allows for the irradiation of IEDs with a laser power of up to 10 kW. Experiments have been carried out on a broad spectrum of different types of IEDs. The processes during neutralization were studied in detail with high-speed diagnostics. On the basis of these experimental data, the safety and the reliability of the application of the laser was analyzed, and recommendations to end users were given. In addition to the results of the ENCOUNTER project, approaches for the numerical simulation of the neutralization of IEDs are discussed.

The irradiation effects of LD laser on thin aluminum alloy plates are studied in experiments characterized by relatively large laser spot and the presence of 0.3Ma surface airflow. A high speed profilometer is used to record the profile change along a vertical line in the rear surface of the target, and the history of the displacement along the direction of thickness of the central point at the rear surface is obtained. The results are compared with those without airflow and those by C. D. Boley. We think that it is the temperature rise difference along the direction of thickness instead of the pressure difference caused by the airflow that makes the thin target bulge into the incoming beam, no matter whether the airflow is blown or not, and that only when the thin aluminum target is heated thus softened enough by the laser irradiation, can the aerodynamic force by the surface airflow cause non-ignorable localized plastic deformation and result a burn-through without melting in the target. However, though the target isn’t softened enough in terms of the pressure difference, it might have experienced notable deformation as it is heated from room temperature to several hundred degree centigrade.

The lethality effect of high power laser on target is simulated with CFD method under different conditions of supersonic air flow on the surface of the target. Materials used in the experiments are 2cm aluminum plate. With the Mach number changing from 1 to 5, the lethality effects of the high power laser can be obtained from the simulations under these conditions of supersonic air flow. The flow-structure-laser coupling impact on the failure time of the target is discussed based on the simulation. Results show that with the increase of mach number, the effect on the aluminum plate is increase first and then decrease by the pressure. Because that it is obvious that the maximum area of pressure is away from the center of deformation region when the mach number is bigger than 5 . At the same time, when mach number is increase, the aerodynamic heating play more important role than the convective heat transfer on the temperature field of aluminum plate. there are two impacts from the supersonic flow. Firstly , the flow can produce the pressure on the surface of the aluminum plate. Secondly, the flow can produce aerodynamic heat on the aluminum plate.

Space debris presents an increasing threat to the lifetime of commercial and military space assets. Laser-based space debris removal systems could potentially mitigate this threat by targeting debris objects in the cm-range. In order to reach this goal a minimum fluence of a few J/cm² on the debris object and a pulse repetition rate of several 10 Hz are necessary. These requirements can be met by coupling 1000-2000 independent 10 J laser sources coherently and employing a sending telescope with a diameter of 5 m. We analyze which parameters are critical to the effectiveness of the transmission system and deduce design guidelines. In particular the effects of non-optimum filling factors, secondary mirror size, emitter intensity distribution and phase jitter of the individual emitters are discussed and compared.

We develop the model of the acoustic wave emission by the femtosecond filament and the model of optical nanosecond pulse guiding in the transient waveguide created as a result of interference of acoustic waves diverging from the filaments array. The numerical algorithms and appropriate solvers are created. In the simulation we identify two regions of time delays between the femtosecond pulse launching the acoustic waves and the nanosecond guided pulse, where the optical guiding is achieved with the high and moderate quality.