1 Optical Time-Domain Reflectometry for the Transport Spatial Filter on the OMEGA Extended Performance Laser

An optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) is a diagnostic that measures light that has been reflected back towards the laser's origin. The transport spatial filter (TSF) OTDR is a device that measures these reflections in the latter half of the laser system, especially to monitor retroreflections from the target. A MATLAB computer program has been created that imports and analyzes OTDR data files. These data files contain information on the voltage of the return signal at specific times, the time scale used, and the shot type. The time that the light takes to return to the OTDR from specific optics has been determined through the use of ray trace charts. These charts have been used to trace the beam's path to the optic and back to the TSF OTDR. These times are used to create labels on the graph for the most important optics. The program then plots the data on a graph of voltage vs time. This graph allows easy interpretation of the data, allowing the user to diagnose any optic malfunctions or unexpected return signals. Purpose Optical time-domain reflectometry is used in the OMEGA EP (extended performance) system to identify and locate optics which have deformations or impurities, or optics that hav