Two-dimensional beam smoothing by spectral dispersion for direct-drive inertial confinement fusion

Two dimensional smoothing by spectral dispersion is analyzed by using diffraction theory calculations. It is shown that by using standard frequency modulated light one can obtain bandwidth limited smoothing over integration times relevant to inertial confinement fusion (about 1 nsec) with modest induced beam divergence. At longer integration times one can obtain bandwidth limited smoothing by increasing the divergence and/or by using more advanced phase modulation methods.