Durham Research Online Deposited in DRO: 25 May 2021 Version of attached le: Published Version Peer-review status of attached le: Peer-reviewed Citation for published item: Danson, Colin N. and White, Malcolm and Barr, John R. M. and Bett, Thomas and Blyth, Peter and Bowley, David and Brenner, Ceri and Collins, Robert J. and Croxford, Neal and Dangor, A. E. Bucker and Devereux, Laurence and Dyer, Peter E. and Dymoke-Bradshaw, Anthony and Edwards, Christopher B. and Ewart, Paul and Ferguson, Allister I. and Girkin, John M. and Hall, Denis R. and Hanna, David C. and Harris, Wayne and Hillier, David I. and Hooker, Christopher J. and Hooker, Simon M. and Hopps, Nicholas and Hull, Janet and Hunt, David and Jaroszynski, Dino A. and Kempenaars, Mark and Kessler, Helmut and Knight, Sir Peter L. and Knight, Steve and Knowles, Adrian and Lewis, Ciaran L. S. and Lipton, Ken S. and Littlechild, Abby and Littlechild, John and Maggs, Peter and Malcolm OBE, Graham P. A. and Mangles, Stuart P. D. and Martin, William and McKenna, Paul and Moore, Richard O. and Morrison, Clive and Najmudin, Zulkar and Neely, David and New, Geo H. C. and Norman, Michael J. and Paine, Ted and Parker, Anthony W. and Penman, Rory R. and Pert, Geo J. and Pietraszewski, Chris and Randewich, Andrew and Rizvi, Nadeem H. and Seddon MBE, Nigel and Sheng, Zheng-Ming and Slater, David and Smith, Roland A. and Spindloe, Christopher and Taylor, Roy and Thomas, Gary and Tisch, John W. G. and Wark, Justin S. and Webb, Colin and Wiggins, S. Mark and Willford, Dave and Winstone, Trevor (2021) 'A history of high-power laser research and development in the United Kingdom.', High Power Laser Science and Engineering, 9 . e18. Further information on publisher's website: https://doi.org/10.1017/hpl.2021.5 Publisher's copyright statement: This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. c The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press in association with Chinese Laser Press Additional information: Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Durham University Library, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LY, United Kingdom Tel : +44 (0)191 334 3042 | Fax : +44 (0)191 334 2971 https://dro.dur.ac.uk 2 High Power Laser Science and Engineering, (2021), Vol. 9, e18, 86 pages. doi:10.1017/hpl.2021.5 REVIEW A history of high-power laser research and development in the United Kingdom Colin N. Danson1,2,3,MalcolmWhite4,5,6,JohnR.M.Barr7,ThomasBett8,PeterBlyth9,10,11,12, David Bowley13,CeriBrenner14 ,RobertJ.Collins15,NealCroxford16 ,A.E.BuckerDangor17 , Laurence Devereux18 ,PeterE.Dyer19, Anthony Dymoke-Bradshaw20,ChristopherB.Edwards1,14, Paul Ewart21, Allister I. Ferguson22,JohnM.Girkin23,DenisR.Hall24,DavidC.Hanna25, Wayne Harris26, David I. Hillier1,ChristopherJ.Hooker14 ,SimonM.Hooker21,NicholasHopps1,17, Janet Hull27,DavidHunt8,DinoA.Jaroszynski28, Mark Kempenaars29,HelmutKessler30, Sir Peter L. Knight17 ,SteveKnight31 ,AdrianKnowles32,CiaranL.S.Lewis33,KenS.Lipton34, Abby Littlechild35,JohnLittlechild35,PeterMaggs36,GraemeP.A.MalcolmOBE37, Stuart P. D. Mangles17 ,WilliamMartin38,PaulMcKenna28,RichardO.Moore1,CliveMorrison39, Zulfikar Najmudin17 ,DavidNeely14,28 ,GeoffH.C.New17 ,MichaelJ.Norman8,TedPaine31 , Anthony W. Parker14 ,RoryR.Penman1,GeoffJ.Pert40,ChrisPietraszewski41 ,AndrewRandewich1, Nadeem H. Rizvi42,NigelSeddonMBE43, Zheng-Ming Sheng28,44,DavidSlater45,RolandA.Smith17 , Christopher Spindloe14 ,RoyTaylor17 ,GaryThomas46,JohnW.G.Tisch17 ,JustinS.Wark2,21, Colin Webb21,S.MarkWiggins28,DaveWillford47,andTrevorWinstone14 1AWE Aldermaston, Reading, UK 2Oxford Centre for High Energy Density Science, Department ofPhysics,ClarendonLaboratory,UniversityofOxford,Oxford, UK 3Centre for Intertial Fusion Studies, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London, UK 4Formerly of Electrox, Letchworth, UK 5Formerly of Central Laser Facility, Rutherford Laboratory,Didcot,UK 6Formerly of Ferranti Defence Systems, Lincoln, UK 7Leonardo, Edinburgh, UK 8Retired, AWE, Reading, UK 9Formerly of AWE, Reading, UK 10 Formerly of Laser Lines Ltd, Banbury, UK 11 Formerly of Optilas Ltd, Milton Keynes, UK 12 Retired, Pro-Lite Technology, Cranfield, UK 13 Specialised Imaging Ltd, Pitstone, UK 14 Central Laser Facility, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, UK 15 Magna-Power Electronics Ltd, Reading, UK 16 DeBe Lasers, Needham Laser Technologies, Whitchurch, UK 17 Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London, UK 18 SPIE Europe, Cardiff, UK 19 Professor Emeritus (Physics), University of Hull, Kingston upon Hull, UK 20Kentech Instruments Ltd, Wallingford, UK 21 Department of Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University ofOxford,Oxford,UK 22Professor Emeritus, Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK 23Department of Physics, Durham University, Durham, UK © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press in association with Chinese Laser Press. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 1 86,/0/17: .,7/20 2.0 :,0.0,7/2000710 2 Colin Danson et al. 24Professor Emeritus (Photonics), Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK 25Professor Emeritus, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK 26Optical Surfaces Ltd, Kenley, UK 27 JEH Lasers Ltd, Rugby, UK 28Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK 29ITER Organization, Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France 30Manx Precision Optics Ltd, Ballasalla, UK 31 Laser Lines Ltd, Banbury, UK 32Elliot Scientific Ltd, MetroTest Scientific Group, Harpenden, UK 33Centre for Plasma Physics, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK 34Retired, Founder, and former MD, Rofin-Sinar UK Ltd, Hull, UK 35Heraeus Noblelight Ltd, Cambridge, UK 36Mirli Books, Chelmsford, UK 37 MSquaredLasersLtd,Glasgow,UK 38University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK 39E&EO UK Ltd, Barton-upon-Humber, UK 40Department of Physics, University of York, York, UK 41 IC Optical Systems Ltd, Beckenham, UK 42Laser Micromachining Ltd, St Asaph, UK 43MBDA UK Ltd, Bristol, UK 44Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China 45Photek Ltd, St Leonards-on-Sea, UK 46Island Optics Ltd, Ballasalla, UK 47 Retired, Lincoln, UK (Received 4 December 2020; revised 15 January 2021; accepted 26 January 2021) Abstract The first demonstration of laser action in ruby was made in 1960 by T. H. Maiman of Hughes Research Laboratories, USA. Many laboratories worldwide began the search for lasers using different materials, operating at different wavelengths. In the UK, academia, industry and the central laboratories took up the challenge from the earliest days to develop these systems for a broad range of applications. This historical review looks at the contribution the UK has made to the advancement of the technology, the development of systems and components and their exploitation over the last 60 years. Keywords: high-power lasers; history; United Kingdom Contents 2.8 Heriot-Watt University 20 2.9 University of Strathclyde 20 1Introduction 3 2.10 Swansea University 25 2Academia 4 2.11 University of Essex 26 2.1 University of Oxford 4 2.12 University of Reading 27 2.2 Imperial College London 8 2.13 X-Ray Laser Consortium 27 2.3 QUB 12 3UKnationallaboratories 29 2.4 University of Southampton 14 3.1 Introduction 29 2.5 University of Hull 16 3.2 CLF 29 2.6 University of Manchester 18 3.2.1 Early years: the setting up of the 2.7 University of St Andrews 19 CLF 29 3.2.2 The laser programmes 30 Correspondence to: R. Penman, AWE Aldermaston, Reading, Berk- 3.2.3 CLF support facilities 35 shire RG7 4PR, UK. Email: [email protected] 3.2.4 Other CLF programmes 36 86,/0/17: .,7/20 2.0 :,0.0,7/2000710 History of high-power laser research and development in the UK 3 3.2.5 CLF spin-out companies 37 took up the challenge to develop laser systems leading to 3.2.6 Summary of activities at the CLF 38 them being used in a broad range of applications. 3.3 AWRE/AWE Aldermaston 38 This review covers the history of the UK contribution to 3.3.1 The early years 38 the development of high-power lasers and is presented in 3.3.2 Early 1970s: AWRE’s three-pronged five sections. In the four following sections we present the approach 39 work in the UK academic community; the role of the national 3.3.3 The HELEN laser facility 41 laboratories (Central Laser Facility at Rutherford Appleton 3.3.4 The Orion laser facility 42 Laboratory; AWE, Aldermaston, and UKAEA Culham); UK 3.3.5 Target fabrication 44 industry; and the defence sector. What is not covered are 3.3.6 Summary of activities at AWE 44 applications associated with industrial material processing, 3.4 UKAEA Culham 45 welding and cutting for instance, and the vast field of medical applications, although reference is made to these sectors 3.5 Conclusion on national laboratories 46 where appropriate developments were achieved. 4UKindustry 46 Academia are driven by research interest and from the 4.1 UK industrial regional centres 47 earliest days the UK community realized the potential of 4.1.1 Isle of Man 47 lasers. Several key individuals have established world lead- 4.1.2 Rugby, Warwickshire 47 ing reputations in laser development and their applications.