The National Ignition Facility

George H. Miller; Edward I. Moses; Craig R. Wuest

doi:10.1117/1.1814767

1 December 2004 The National Ignition Facility

George H. Miller, Edward I. Moses, Craig R. Wuest

Author Affiliations +

Optical Engineering, Vol. 43, Issue 12, (December 2004). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.1814767

Abstract

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.

©(2004) Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

Citation Download Citation

George H. Miller, Edward I. Moses, and Craig R. Wuest "The National Ignition Facility," Optical Engineering 43(12), (1 December 2004). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.1814767

Published: 1 December 2004

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available