The Electra Krf Laser System

This paper presents a brief overview of the Electra laser system and reports on the most recent results. The laser system consists of an electron beam pumped main amplifier with an aperture of 30 cm x 30 cm, an e-beam pumped 10 cm x 10 cm pre-amplifier, and a KrF discharge laser serving as the seed oscillator. The electron beam amplifiers are pumped from both sides. Full laser system shots have been completed with a laser energy of 450 J. The main amplifier, operating as an oscillator, has demonstrated 25,000 continuous laser shots at 2.5 Hz single sided pumping as well as 16,600 shots @ 2.5 Hz at similar to 300 J/shot within 2 hours.