Mercury laser (original) (raw)

The Mercury laser is a high-average-power laser system developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as a prototype for systems to drive inertial confinement fusion. Like the National Ignition Facility, it is intended to produce narrow pulses of extremely high power, using diode-pumped solid-state lasers. Unlike the NIF system, the Mercury laser aims to achieve a high repetition rate: its goals are 10 pulses per second, each delivering 100 J with a 10% efficient conversion of electricity to laser light.