Comparison of Nd:phosphate glass, Yb:YAG and Yb:S-FAP laser beamlines for laser inertial fusion energy (LIFE) [Invited]

Challenges of high power diode-pumped lasers for fusion energy

“…Increase of the stored energy is also part of the solution because large gain media are becoming available thanks to ceramic developments. Nevertheless, when dealing with apertures of around 20 cm, well-known classical glass material can provide excellent results when it is associated with new amplifier designs, as has been published recently with Nd-doped phosphate glass [49,50] . At this stage, the best solution for demonstrating that it is possible to combine these efforts is to build a prototype.…”

“…According to the fusion cycle gain model [15] , one can choose a set of parameters such that the high thermonuclear gain can compensate for low driver efficiency: the lower the driver efficiency, the higher the thermonuclear gain. For commercial viability, the laser efficiency should be close to 7%, although some recent work claims that higher values (15%) should be accessible [50] .…”

Laser requirements for a laser fusion energy power plant

“…There has been a recent design study [24] for a DPSSL that estimates the wall plug efficiency for a fusion energy laser driver could be as high as 16%, using diodes that are 72% efficient [25] . These efficiencies have not yet been demonstrated and would require advances in several technologies.…”

Near-UV sensitized 1.06 μm emission of Nd3+ ions via monovalent copper in phosphate glass

“…Particularly, Nd 3þ solid-state lasers based on high-solubility phosphate glass matrices are much valued for high-power lasing applications [3,4]. This has led to the current initiative of exploring the potential of such for laser fusion power plants to generate electricity (concept of Laser Inertial Fusion Energy e LIFE) [5]. Hence, in view of the technological relevance, which nowadays includes helping meet global energy demands, several research groups have investigated on the effects (e.g.…”