High-repetition CO2 laser for collective Thomson scattering diagnostic of α particles in burning plasmas

A high-repetition and high-energy transversely excited atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) laser for a collective Thomson scattering (CTS) diagnostic has been developed to establish a diagnostic method of confined alpha particles in burning plasmas. To excite a single-transverse and single-longitudinal mode, a continuous wave seed laser was injected to an unstable resonator with a cavity length of similar to 4.4 m. Pulse energy of 10 J with a repetition rate of 10 Hz has been achieved in the single-mode operation. Pulse energies of 18 J with a repetition rate of 10 Hz and 36 J with single shot operation have also been achieved in the multimode operation. These results give a prospect for the CTS diagnostic on International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which requires single-mode energy of 20 J with repetition rate of 40 Hz. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.