The architecture and major system components of the sodium-layer kw guide star system at LLNL will be described, and experimental results reported. The subsystems include the laser system, the beam delivery system including a pulse stretcher and beam pointing control, the beam director, and the telescope with its adaptive-optics package. The laser system is one developed for the Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation (AVLIS) Program. This laser system can be configured in various ways in support of the AVLIS program objectives, and was made available to the guide star program at intermittent times on a non-interference basis. The first light transmitted into the sky was in July of 1992, at a power level of 1. 1 kW. The laser pulse width is about 32 ns, and the pulse repetition rate was 26 kHz for the 1. 1 kW configuration and 13 kHz for a 400 W configuration. The laser linewidth is tailored to match the sodium D{sub 2} absorption line, and the laser system has active control of beam pointing and wavefront quality. Because of the short pulse length the sodium transition is saturated and the laser power is not efficiently utilized. For this reason a pulse stretcher was developed, …

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