Aug 5 2014
Logos Technologies, in partnership with the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), has received an award to design, build and install a sophisticated high-energy laser at the Washington State University (WSU)-led Dynamic Compression Sector (DCS) at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL).
Funded through WSU's Institute for Shock Physics, the Logos Technologies-led team will provide a laser-driven shock compression capability at DCS to produce high pressure, short duration shock waves. By coupling tunable, high energy X-ray beams to state-of-the-art shock wave drivers, DCS will enable unprecedented, real-time atomic-scale investigation of materials subjected to extreme dynamic compression.
The Logos-led team will design and deliver a frequency tripled glass laser based on proven technologies, including state-of-the-art beam-smoothing techniques developed at LLE. The laser will deliver 100 joules of energy in consistent, accurate and well-characterized nanosecond-scale pulses.
"Logos Technologies has extensive experience developing and building high-energy lasers for a range of applications," said Dr. John Marion, president of Logos Technologies. "Our approach here, working with the Washington State and Rochester teams, is focused on the specific needs of the laser's users and places a very high value on performance, reliability and ease of use."
In addition to its robust optical performance, this laser will also be much easier to operate than other systems of this scale and function. Logos Technologies' newly developed control system software will allow a single operator to align, maintain and fire the laser. This software can also be applied to many other laser systems around the world, in support of a wide array of missions and uses.
"This partnership offers a valuable and diverse set of skills that will make this kind of advanced laser-driven capability more accessible to researchers," said Professor Robert McCrory, Director of the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics. "The combination of proven, high-performance technology and cutting-edge control systems will not only enable ambitious new research, but also help make the laser easier to operate."
Other scientific collaborators in the DCS research activities are the U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Safety Administration national laboratories (Lawrence Livermore, California, and Los Alamos and Sandia, New Mexico), Department of Defense laboratories including the Army Research Laboratory and Naval Research Laboratory, and several academic institutions. Starting in 2016, the DCS will be available to national and international scientific users.
Source: http://www.logos-technologies.com