Power deposition in He from the volumetric He-3/n,p/H-3 reaction

Calculations are presented in this paper which show the amount of power that can be expected to be deposited in He-3 for typical direct nuclear-pumped lasers presently in use. The calculations were performed taking into consideration the cylindrical geometry of the system, the depletion of the thermal flux across the tube cross section, and the energy loss of the protons to the cell walls. If a laser efficiency of 1% is assumed, the results indicate a steady-state laser output of 12.5 kW from a volume of 152.6 cu cm or 82 W/cu cm can be achieved.