A. L. Safronov

Performance Characteristics of Laser Propulsion Engine Operating both in CW and in Repetitively‐Pulsed Modes

In the paper, the development of a laser propulsion engine efficiently operating under the laser radiation both in CW and in repetitively‐pulsed modes as well as an option of optimal conditions of the engine operation are considered. Aerospace Laser Propulsion Engine (ASLPE) designed earlier is assigned in the basis of the engine. In the paper, the theoretical estimations of laser propulsion characteristics of the engine, made on the basis of semi‐empirical models of a thrust production, are presented, and experimental results on testing of the engine model by using of CO2‐lasers operating in pulsed and in CW modes are analyzed.

Detonation of CHO working substances in a laser jet engine

Laser-induced ablation of materials (including polymers and a variety of polycrystalline substances with a CHO chemical composition) is studied theoretically and experimentally. Based on experimental data, a parametric physicochemical model of detonation of these materials is put forward with the aim to estimate the efficiency of laser thrust formation in jet engines.

Laser corrective propulsion plant for spacecraft

This paper discusses questions of using laser reactive thrust for conducting flights of spacecraft both in near-earth orbit and in interplanetary flights as a corrective propulsion plant with an aerospace laser reactive engine.

Laser Fine‐Adjustment Thruster For Space Vehicles

To the present time, a few laser propulsion engine devices have been developed by using dominant mechanisms of laser propulsion. Generally these mechanisms are laser ablation, laser breakdown of gases, and laser detonation waves that are induced due to extraction of the internal energy of polymer propellants. In the paper, we consider the Aero‐Space Laser Propulsion Engine (ASLPE) developed earlier, in which all of these mechanisms are realized via interaction of laser radiation with polymers both in continuous wave (CW) and in repetitively pulsed modes of laser operation. The ASLPE is considered to be exploited as a unit of a laser propulsion device being arranged onboard space vehicles moving around the Earth or in interplanetary missions and intended to correct the vehicles orbits. To produce a thrust, a power of the solar pumped lasers designed to the present time is considered in the paper. The problem of increasing the efficiency of the laser propulsion device is analyzed as applied to space mission...

A picosecond IR laser system with tunable wavelength, based on a hybrid CO 2 laser

This paper describes a picosecond laser system based on a hybrid CO2 laser, using optically controlled semiconductor switches with a pulse width from 100 ps to 300 ns, followed by conversion of the radiation in nonlinear crystals by means of second-harmonic generation. Silver selenogallate AgGaSe2 and zinc germanium diphosphide ZnGeP2 are used as nonlinear crystals. Two-stage conversion of the radiation of a picosecond CO2 laser with wavelength 9.4-10.6 μm into laser radiation with wavelengths 4.7-5.3 μm is carried out in the apparatus with an efficiency of 0.3%-0.5%, while 4.7-5.3-μm radiation is converted into 2.4-2.65-μm radiation with an efficiency of 8%. The overall conversion efficiency is 4×10−4 or 0.04% for an output pulse energy up to 35 μJ.

Conversion efficiency of laser energy into thermal energy of a gas as applied to laserrocket engines

This paper presents the results of experimental studies of the conversion efficiency of the energy pulses of gas and solid-state lasers into thermal energy of gas accompanied by breakdown in nitrogen and air at pressures of 0.1–1 atm and pulse energies of 5–90 J.

Application of Underwater Spectrometric System for Survey of Ponds of the MR Reactor (NRC Kurchatov Institute)

The underwater spectrometric system for survey the bottom of material science multi-loop reactor MR ponds was elaborated. This system uses CdZnTe (CZT) detectors that allow for spectrometric measurements in high radiation fields. The underwater system was used in the spectrometric survey of the bottom of the MR reactor pool, as well as in the survey located in the MR storage pool of highly radioactive containers and parts of the reactor construction. As a result of these works irradiated nuclear fuel was detected on the bottom of pools, and obtained estimates of the effective surface activity detected radionuclides and created by them the dose rate.Copyright