Laser Gated and Pumped Thyristor (LGPT) Scale-Up for the Advanced Electra Pulsed Power Technology Demonstrator

LGPT [1] development in support of the Electra Advanced Pulsed Power Program has progressed to the point where we have scaled up the developmental devices to larger area, rail aspect ratio devices of 5 cm2 (1times5 cm). These devices represent minimum-sized building-block units for use in near and far term KrF IFE [2] laser drivers. Testing and iteration continues on the program's limited-area developmental devices in parallel with the scale-up. This allows us to continually evolve some of the more challenging features such as the optical interface and details of the photon sources/drives, while other more mature features are finalized. The scaled-up devices are based on the on-board integrated LGPT, in that the laser diode arrays and their drive electronics are integrated directly into the switch electrode structures. At this time, the on-board approach is still preferred over the fiber- coupled off-board approach, for its ability to produce more photons per unit area active silicon.