In June 2017, the L3-HAPLS Laser, the world’s most advanced and highest average power, diode-pumped petawatt laser system, was delivered to ELI Beamlines Research Center in Dolní Břežany, Czech Republic. After integration into the ELI Beamlines facility, the laser was evaluated by an international peer review group and deemed fully integrated and operational. The system is now ready for use in its first experiments.
The L3-HAPLS Laser was designed, developed and constructed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Development of the HAPLS required high power in the pulser. Each pulser contains its own local energy storage capacitor bank consisting of 3 Evans Capacitor’s TDD3125452 4500μF/125V DC tantalum ‘Hybrid’ capacitors.
According to the development engineers at LLNL: “The capacitors deserve special note as they are a major enabling technology that reduces the volume of the capacitor bank by at least a factor of three while providing better ripple current characteristics and superior cooling compared to standard electrolytic devices. The use of these capacitors allows the incorporation of 100J of energy storage in approximately 3.5 cubic inches.”
The L3-HAPLS laser’s ability to focus high-intensity petawatt peak power pulses on a target will enable unparalleled access to a variety of new research projects in fields, including time-resolved proton and X-ray radiography and laboratory astrophysics. It will also help research basic science and medical applications for cancer treatments and industrial applications such as nondestructive material evaluation and laser fusion. Evans Capacitor Company is an AS9100/ISO2001 certified manufacturer of hybrid wet tantalum capacitors headquartered in East Providence, RI. EVANSCAPS offer significant savings of space, weight and power compared to other capacitor technologies and are qualified and in service with all tier 1 aerospace and defence contractors. Evans Capacitor Company was named the 2018 National Subcontractor of the Year by the US Small Business Administration.