Laser Driver for a Photoinjector of an Electron Linear Accelerator (February 2014)

The presented laser driver for a photoinjector of an electron linear accelerator delivers 10-ps long laser pulses with the energy of 1.85 μJ at the wavelength of 262 nm. Laser pulses irradiating with the repetition rate of 10 MHz form the rectangular 800-μ s long pulse trains with 18.5-W mean power inside them. The pulse train repetition rate is 10 Hz. Short-lived absorption centers accumulating in BBO fourth-harmonic generator crystal cause significant distortion of the pulse train envelope. The envelope remains rectangular due to precompensating of these distortions in the fiber acousto-optical modulator with fast varying transmission.