The experience gained in operating a demonstration nuclear-pumped laser in stand B (Physics and Power- Engineering Institute (FEI)) with a pulsed ignition reactor based on the 235U BARS-6 reactor is analyzed. It is shown that laser block → ignition reactor neutron feedback coupling greatly limits the parameters of the pump pulse from the amplifier. A method is proposed for decreasing the feedback by replacing 235U with the threshold fissile element 237 Np in the ignition reactor. Such a reactor will increase by approximately 15-fold the energy and power of the pump pulse in the laser block of the demonstration reactor of the nuclear-pumped laser in stand B.
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Translated from Atomnaya Énergiya, Vol. 112, No. 5, pp. 277–282, May, 2012.
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D’yachenko, P.P., Fokin, G.N. Ignition reactor and pump pulse parameters in a reactor–laser system. At Energy 112, 341–347 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10512-012-9567-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10512-012-9567-9