ISKRA lasers are short pulse
lasers
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...
which were built by the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
at
RFNC-VNIIEF in
Arzamas-16
Sarov () is a closed city, closed town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It was known as Gorkiy-130 (Горький-130) and Arzamas-16 (), after a (somewhat) nearby town of Arzamas,SarovLabsCreation of Nuclear Center Arzamas-16/ref> from 194 ...
() with the approximately 2
kJ output ISKRA-4 laser being completed in 1979 and the 30 kJ output ISKRA-5 laser which was completed in 1989.
The main use for both lasers being the investigation into
inertial confinement fusion
Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is a fusion energy process that initiates nuclear fusion reactions by compressing and heating targets filled with fuel. The targets are small pellets, typically containing deuterium (2H) and tritium (3H).
Typical ...
,
high energy density physics
High-energy-density physics (HEDP) is a subfield of physics intersecting condensed matter physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics and plasma physics. It has been defined as the physics of matter and radiation at energy densities in excess of about ...
and
nuclear weapons
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission, fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion, fusion reactions (thermonuclear weap ...
research. The Russian laser fusion program was first initiated on the suggestion of
Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (; 21 May 192114 December 1989) was a Soviet Physics, physicist and a List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, which he was awarded in 1975 for emphasizing human rights around the world.
Alt ...
in 1962 concerning the possibility that lasers may be capable of achieving the conditions for fusion in imploding spherically symmetrical fuel capsules.
ISKRA-4
The ISKRA-4 laser is a spatially filtered (image relayed) 8 beam photolytically pumped
iodine
Iodine is a chemical element; it has symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists at standard conditions as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...
gas laser capable of producing laser pulse energies of around 2 kJ (pulsewidth of about 1
ns) at its fundamental emission wavelength of 1.315
micrometers
The micrometre (Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a unit of length in the International System ...
, though it is also capable of operating in a
frequency doubled
Second-harmonic generation (SHG), also known as frequency doubling, is the lowest-order wave-wave nonlinear interaction that occurs in various systems, including optical, radio, atmospheric, and magnetohydrodynamic systems. As a prototype behav ...
configuration where it emits light at 658 nm with a pulse energy of around 500 J. ISKRA-4 produced its first thermonuclear
neutrons
The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , that has no electric charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. The neutron was discovered by James Chadwick in 1932, leading to the discovery of nuclear fission in 1938, the f ...
from imploding DT fuel capsules in 1981.
ISKRA-5
The ISKRA-5 laser is a spatially filtered (image relayed) 12 beam photolytically pumped
iodine
Iodine is a chemical element; it has symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists at standard conditions as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...
gas laser capable of producing laser pulse energies of around 30 kJ and peak pulse powers of around 100 terawatts (pulsewidth about 0.3 ns) at its fundamental emission wavelength of 1.315 micrometers. ISKRA-5, like ISKRA-4, also has the capability for frequency doubling to the second harmonic. Maximum fusion yield on ISKRA-5 is about 10
10 to 10
11 neutrons per target shot.
ISKRA-6
ISKRA-6 is a laser under investigation for future construction by VNIIEF which would be in the near-
NIF and
LMJ class of extremely high energy, high power frequency tripled Nd:glass lasers used to access the ignition regime of imploding DT fusion fuel capsules for nuclear weapons research. ISKRA-6 would be a 128 beam laser capable of irradiating targets with ~300 kJ of laser light at the 351 nm third harmonic with pulsewidths of around 1 to 3 ns.
ISKRA-6 is planned to have 10 times the energy of ISKRA-5.
See also
*
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...
*
Arzamas-16
Sarov () is a closed city, closed town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It was known as Gorkiy-130 (Горький-130) and Arzamas-16 (), after a (somewhat) nearby town of Arzamas,SarovLabsCreation of Nuclear Center Arzamas-16/ref> from 194 ...
*
List of laser types
This is a list of laser types, their operational wavelengths, and their applications. Thousands of kinds of laser are known, but most of them are used only for specialized research.
Overview
Gas lasers
Chemical lasers
Used as directed-ener ...
References
Российский Федеральный Ядерный Центрwww.vniief.ru
{{Lasers
Inertial confinement fusion research lasers
Science and technology in Russia
Science and technology in the Soviet Union