Electra: repetitively pulsed 700 J, 100 NS electron beam pumped KRF laser

Summary form only given. Electra is a repetitively pulsed, electron beam pumped krypton fluoride (KrF) laser at the Naval Research Laboratory that is developing the technologies that can meet the inertial fusion energy (IFE) requirements for durability, efficiency, and cost. The technologies developed on Electra should be directly scalable to a full size fusion power plant beam line. The laser system consists of a main amplifier with an aperture of 30times30 cm 2 , a 10times10 cm 2 pre-amplifier, and a commercial discharge laser serving as the seed oscillator. The main amplifier, currently operated as an oscillator, has demonstrated single shot and rep-rate laser energies exceeding 700 J, with a pulse width of 100 ns at 248 nm. Continuous operation of the KrF laser has lasted for more than 2.5 hours without failure at 1 Hz, and tests at higher repetition rates are ongoing