Abstract
A nuclear pumped laser is a laser where the excitation is accomplished by nuclear energy. There are, of course, many nuclear reactions where nuclear energy is released (e.g., the He(n,p)T reaction), however, the concept tacitly assumes that the reaction is selfsustaining. Therefore the ultimate goal has to be to find a concept which uses fission energy for laser excitation. This could be the kinetic energy of the fission fragments, in the case of fission fragment pumping, or the fission energy has to be converted into some other form of energy which is then used to excite the laser medium. To use x-rays or the neutron radiation extracted from the core would be inefficient since the majority of the fission energy is invested in the kinetic energy of the fission fragments.
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References
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© 1984 Plenum Press, New York
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Cox, J.D., Schneider, R.T., Tang, Y.S. (1984). Nuclear Pumped Lasers Utilizing Radiant Transfer. In: Hora, H., Miley, G.H. (eds) Laser Interaction and Related Plasma Phenomena. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7332-6_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7332-6_5
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