High energy lasers for ship-defense and maritime propagation

• Main Author: Bouras, Vasileios
• Other Authors: Colson, William B.
• Published: Monterey California. Naval Postgraduate School 2012
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10945/4258; http://hdl.handle.net/10945/4258

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited === Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited === High Energy Lasers (HELs) are a new class of weapons that may be of great value to the Navy in the near future. A high-power Free Electron Laser (FEL) is being designed using short Rayleigh-length resonators to increase the spot size at the mirrors and hence avoid mirror damage. Three-dimensional simulations are used to study the effects of an electron beam misalignment (electron beam tilt). This thesis shows that the proposed design is tolerant of typical electron beam misalignments. The performance of a step -tapered undulator is also studied for the 100 kW proposed upgrade of the Jefferson Laboratory FEL. The results of this research show that the gain is above the required threshold for the 100 kW design while the energy spread does not change significantly over any undulator design. The spectrum of the proposed FEL shows that most of the power is concentrated around the fundamental frequency. It is shown in this thesis that smooth FEL pulses can significantly reduce the negative effects of absorption and scattering. Recent HEL science and technology developments are discussed for both Free Electron and Solid-State Lasers.