The HERMES III accelerator is an 18–20-MeV linear induction accelerator constructed at Sandia National Laboratories in the late 1980s and which continues operation to this day. As part of recent modernization efforts, the laser triggering system on the accelerator has been replaced with a newly designed solid-state system. This system consists of ten Nd:YAG lasers, each having a nominal output energy of 40–45 mJ at a wavelength of 266 nm. The beam from each laser is split such that it triggers two of the Rimfire gas switches on the accelerator. Compared to the previous laser triggering system, this arrangement makes it possible to more readily tailor the final output pulse shape, and the overall reliability of this key accelerator system is now improved. The design of the new laser triggering system is presented here, along with details pertaining to the energy budgeting, optical beam paths, and electrical triggering of the lasers. The initial operational data from the HERMES III accelerator using this new triggering system are also presented.

中文翻译：

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HERMES III固态激光触发系统的设计与性能

HERMES III 加速器是 18-20-MeV 线性感应加速器，于 1980 年代后期在桑迪亚国家实验室建造，并一直运行至今。作为最近现代化工作的一部分，加速器上的激光触发系统已被新设计的固态系统所取代。该系统由十个 Nd:YAG 激光器组成，每个激光器在 266 nm 波长下具有 40–45 mJ 的标称输出能量。来自每个激光器的光束被分开，从而触发加速器上的两个 Rimfire 气体开关。与之前的激光触发系统相比，这种安排可以更轻松地定制最终输出脉冲形状，并且现在提高了该关键加速器系统的整体可靠性。此处介绍了新型激光触发系统的设计，以及有关能量预算、光束路径和激光电触发的详细信息。还介绍了使用这种新触发系统的 HERMES III 加速器的初始运行数据。