Yuan’s team has developed an internal beam path conditioner – a system that blows gas through the weapon to remove waste heat and improve gas cleanliness.
It is designed to be compact and efficient, with a focus on optimising gas flow and minimising size and weight.
It has several key components, including an air source, a heat exchanger, a gas flow control system and a gas injection/suction system.
The air source provides a supply of clean, dry air to the system, which is then passed through the heat exchanger to cool it down to the desired temperature.
The gas flow control system regulates the flow of gas, ensuring it is delivered at the correct temperature and dwell time to achieve quasi-static small aberrations.
The gas injection/suction system is responsible for injecting the gas into the internal beam path of the laser system and removing it after it has passed through.
Yuan’s team had to pay careful attention to a number of technical and practical points when building and operating the internal beam path conditioner.
One of the main challenges was ensuring the gas flow achieved the desired cooling and cleaning effects. This required careful design and testing of the gas flow control system, as well as the injection/suction system that delivers the gas to the internal beam path.
Another challenge was making it compact and efficient enough to be practical for use in real-world applications. Innovative designs were needed such as advanced pneumatic structures, flow optimisation of each path, integration of the injector/suction with the beam section and simplified pipelines.
The cooling system can introduce new problems such as turbulence and vibration that can affect beam quality if not properly built, according to the researchers. For example, the blowing of gas through the internal beam path can create turbulence and vibration which can affect the stability and quality of the laser beam.