High-energy SBS pulse compression

An efficient two-cell stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) pulse-compressor design that can be scaled to large laser-pulse energies is described and a numerical model has been developed that accurately predicts the performance of this pulse-compressor system over a wide range of operating parameters. The compression of a 2.5 J input pulse from a width of 15.8 to 1.7 ns is experimentally demonstrated with 80 percent energy efficiency. A design of an SBS pulse compressor to compress a 25 J pulse to a pulse width less than 1 ns with 80 percent energy efficiency is presented.>