Thus, NPLs using condensed media have for the present given rather modest results: pumping has only been done on glass neodymium lasers with optical radiations from NOCs. Moreover, there is no detailed information on the charac­teristics of these lasers. Despite this, the literature has proposed some schemes for powerful nuclear-laser devices based on condensed laser media. We will review some proposals without discussing issues related to feasibility.

Colloidal Nuclear Reactor! Optical Thermal Emission! Liquid Laser Medium

An article [61] reviews one of the first designs for a nuclear laser device using condensed laser media. In a simplified form, this device consists of two coaxial cylinders, wherein the liquid laser medium POCl3-ZrCl4:Nd3+ is placed in the inner cylinder with a transparent cover, and the reactor core occupies the space between the two cylindrical covers. A colloidal reactor core operating in stationary mode consists of a suspension of 0.5-5 ^m uranium carbide particles (total mass of

4.5 kg) in a vortex flow of helium. The power density that will be released inside the reactor core, according to estimates, is 20 kW/cm3. It is supposed that the laser media is pumped with the optical emission of fuel particles, which are heated to a temperature of 3,000K. The geometric dimensions and the energy characteristics of this device are not given in the work [61].