This paper describes the status of the stadium-sized National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world's largest laser system and
first operational multi-megajoule laser. The 192-beam NIF, located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
(LLNL), is 96% complete and scheduled for completion in March 2009. The NIF laser will produce nanosecond laser
pulses with energies up to approximately 4 MJ in the infrared (laser wavelength = 1.053-μm) and 2MJ in the ultraviolet
(laser wavelength = 0.35-μ m). With these energies NIF will access conditions of pressure and temperature not previously
available on earth, allowing it to conduct experiments in support of the nation's national security, energy, and
fundamental science goals. First ignition experiments at NIF are scheduled for FY2010. This paper will provide an
overview of the NIF laser and the ignition, energy, and fundamental science activities at NIF.
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a 192 beam Nd-glass laser facility presently under construction at LLNL. When completed, NIF will produce 1.8 MJ, 500 TW of ultraviolet light making it the world's largest and most powerful laser system. NIF will be the world's preeminent facility for performing experiments for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) and High Energy Density Science (HEDS). The Project, begun in 1995, is over 80% complete. The building and the beam path are essentially complete. Nearly all of the functionality of the laser subsystems has been demonstrated. NIF has demonstrated on a single beam basis that it meets its performance goals and shown the laser's precision and flexibility for pulse shaping, pointing, and timing. Beam conditioning techniques, important for target performance, were also demonstrated. The focal spot can be tailored to user specifications using phase plates. Temporal smoothing using smoothing by spectral dispersion (SSD) as well as polarization smoothing was demonstrated. The remaining work is mostly to complete the optics and install them in the beam path and complete the utilities. Presently, eight beams have been activated through the amplifiers and spatial filters to the switchyard wall. Over 150 kJ of 1ω light has been produced with just 4% of the NIF capacity activated. The Project is scheduled for completion in 2009 and plans have been developed to begin ignition experiments in 2010. This talk will provide NIF status, the plan to complete NIF, and the path to ignition.
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a stadium-sized facility that, when completed in 2008, will contain a 192-beam, 1.8-megajoule, 500-terawatt, ultraviolet laser system together with a 10-m-diam target chamber and room for 100 diagnostics. NIF is the world's largest and most energetic laser experimental system and will provide a scientific center to study inertial confinement fusion and matter at extreme energy densities and pressures. NIF's energetic laser beams will compress fusion targets to conditions required for thermonuclear burn, liberating more energy than required to initiate the fusion reactions. Other NIF experiments will study physical processes at temperatures approaching 108 K and 1011 bar, conditions that exist naturally only in the interior of stars and planets. NIF has completed the first phases of its laser commissioning program. The first four beams of NIF have generated 106 kJ in 23-ns pulses of infrared light and over 16 kJ in 3.5-ns pulses at the third harmonic (351 nm). NIF's target experimental systems are being commissioned and experiments have begun. This work provides a detailed look at the NIF laser systems, laser and optical performance, and results from recent laser commissioning shots. We follow this with a discussion of NIF's high-energy-density and inertial fusion experimental capabilities, the first experiments on NIF, and plans for future capabilities of this unique facility.
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a stadium-sized facility containing a 192-beam, 1.8-Megajoule, 500-Terawatt, ultraviolet laser system together with a 10-meter diameter target chamber with room for nearly 100 experimental diagnostics. NIF will be the world’s largest and most energetic laser experimental system, providing a scientific center to study inertial confinement fusion and matter at extreme energy densities and pressures. NIF's energetic laser beams will compress fusion targets to conditions required for thermonuclear burn, liberating more energy than required to initiate the fusion reactions. Other NIF experiments will study physical processes at temperatures approaching 108 K and 1011 bar, conditions that exist naturally only in the interior of stars, planets and in nuclear weapons. NIF has completed the first phases of its laser commissioning program. The first four beams of NIF have generated 106 kilojoules of infrared light and over 16 kJ at the third harmonic (351 nm). NIF's target experimental systems are being commissioned and experiments have begun. This presentation provides a detailed look the NIF laser systems, laser and optical performance and results from recent laser commissioning shots, and plans for commissioning diagnostics for experiments on NIF.
The National Ignition Facility, a center for the study of high energy density plasma physics and fusion energy ignition, is currently under construction at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The heart of the NIF is a frequency tripled, flashlamp-pumped Nd:glass laser system comprised of 192 independent laser beams. The laser system is capable of gen-erating output energies of 1.8MJ at 351nm and at peak powers of 500 TW in a flexible temporal pulse format. A descrip-tion of the NIF laser system and its major components is presented. We also discuss the manufacture of nearly 7500 pre-cision large optics required by the NIF including data on the manufactured optical quality vs. specification. In addition, we present results from an on-going program to improve the operational lifetime of optics exposed to high fluence in the 351-nm section of the laser.
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