DOCSLIB.ORG

January/February 2001 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
January/February 2001 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory January/ February 2001 U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory About the Cover This issue of S&TR pays tribute to Roger Batzel, the Laboratory’s sixth and longest- tenured director (1971–1988). Batzel died on July 29, 2000, at the age of 78. He was an extraordinary leader, deeply respected personally and for the significant growth and achievement he fostered in Laboratory missions. The issue features an overview of Batzel’s long and distinguished career at Livermore (1953–2000). It also focuses on the particular achievements of his directorship. Among them are the growth of a strong biomedical capability, innovations in alternative energy sources, and significant progress in the science that supports deterrence and nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and contributed to the end of the Cold War. Cover design: George Kitrinos About the Review Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the Department of Energy. At Livermore, we focus science and technology on assuring our nation’s security. We also apply that expertise to solve other important national problems in energy, bioscience, and the environment. Science & Technology Review is published 10 times a year to communicate, to a broad audience, the Laboratory’s scientific and technological accomplishments in fulfilling its primary missions. The publication’s goal is to help readers understand these accomplishments and appreciate their value to the individual citizen, the nation, and the world. Please address any correspondence (including name and address changes) to S&TR, Mail Stop L-664, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, California 94551, or telephone (925) 423-3432. Our e-mail address is [email protected]. S&TR is available on the World Wide Web at www.llnl.gov/str/. © 2001. The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. This document has been authored by the Regents of the University of California under contract No. W-7405-Eng-48 with the U.S. Government. To request permission to use any material contained in this document, please submit your request in writing to the Technical Information Department, Document Approval and Report Services, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, California 94551, or to our electronic mail address [email protected]. This document was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor the University of California nor any of their employees makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States • • Government or the University of California. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state Prepared by LLNL under contract or reflect those of the United States Government or the University of California and shall not be used for advertising or No. W-7405-Eng-48 product endorsement purposes. January/February 2001 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Contents S&TR Staff Features SCIENTIFIC EDITORS 3 Roger Batzel—A Leader and a Gentleman Jean H. de Pruneda and Commentary by Bruce Tarter Andrew Quong 4 A Career of Distinguished Achievement MANAGING EDITOR Ray Marazzi A superb manager with a quiet and self-effacing demeanor, Roger Batzel presided over a period PUBLICATION EDITOR of unprecedented growth and technical Dean Wheatcraft diversification at Lawrence Livermore. WRITERS Arnie Heller, Ann Parker, Katie Walter, and Dean Wheatcraft ART DIRECTOR AND DESIGNER Research Highlights George Kitrinos 10 From Dosimetry to Genomics INTERNET DESIGNER Roger Batzel’s support of Livermore’s relatively Kitty Tinsley new biomedical research program led to its COMPOSITOR growth into a major contributor to the worldwide Louisa Cardoza Human Genome Project. PROOFREADER 14 Swords into Plowshares and Beyond Carolin Middleton Under Roger Batzel’s leadership, the Laboratory championed numerous long-term, innovative S&TR, a Director’s Office alternative energy technologies to help address publication, is produced by the challenges not unlike those we are facing today. Technical Information Department under the direction of the Office of 18 Adapting to a Changing Weapons Program Policy, Planning, and Special Studies. Roger Batzel’s knowledge of the U.S. weapons program and his much-trusted S&TR is available on the Web professional judgment served the at www.llnl.gov/str/. Laboratory and the nation well as arms control and deterrence emerged as national priorities. Printed in the United States of America Available from Departments National Technical Information Service U.S. Department of Commerce 5285 Port Royal Road 2 The Laboratory in the News Springfield, Virginia 22161 UCRL-52000-01-1/2 21 Patents and Awards Distribution Category UC-0 January/February 2001 2 The Laboratory in the News S&TR January/February 2001 Lab, UC Davis team for cancer research Going fishing in the gene pool The Laboratory and the University of California at Davis Researchers at the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) in Walnut Cancer Center have announced a major collaboration to fight Creek, California, are leading an international effort to map cancer. The institutions have created an integrated cancer the genetic code of the puffer fish. The JGI is a Department research program to accelerate discoveries that help prevent, of Energy collaboration of Lawrence Livermore, Lawrence diagnose, and treat cancer, the nation’s second leading killer. Berkeley, and Los Alamos national laboratories. The affiliation brings together the research and development The puffer fish (known as Fugu in Japan, where it is a strengths of Lawrence Livermore scientists and engineers, delicacy) is an ancient species with 400 million base pairs particularly in biomedical technology and genomics, with of DNA, compared to the 3 billion bases that make up the basic science capabilities of patient-centered clinical human DNA. researchers at the UC Davis center. The puffer fish is being mapped because its genome is At least a dozen projects are under investigation, including: considered simpler and more pure than the human genome, • Studies of plant chemicals that may affect the development which is muddled by genetic “noise” resulting from millions of of cancer. years of evolution. Scientists reason that they can learn much • Studies using ultrasensitive accelerator mass spectroscopy about the fundamental structure of the cluttered human genome to analyze how drugs are absorbed in the body. from the puffer genome. This knowledge will help fill in the • Development of new light diffusion sensors that can detect details of the completed draft of the entire human genome. cancer by measuring how light scatters when it is reflected The same principle that drives the puffer fish research is inside tissue. also leading genetic researchers to investigate the genome of • Development of an ultrashort-pulse laser to use the light other simpler organisms such as the mouse, fruit fly, yeast, scattered off tissue to create images showing melanomas and and nematode. other cancers on the skin. Contact: Elbert Branscomb (925) 296-5700 ([email protected]). Contact: James Felton (925) 422-5656 ([email protected]). Cancer research yields cooking tips Lab technology revises estimate of meteor’s size Researchers at Lawrence Livermore’s Biology and Using an innovative three-dimensional imaging technique, Biotechnology Research Program have found that cooking a team of Laboratory researchers has revised the size estimate hamburgers at specific temperatures and to specific internal of Kleopatra, an unusually elongated metallic asteroid. temperatures and flipping them frequently not only kills In May 2000, researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory harmful bacteria but also reduces the formation of chemicals in Pasadena, California, reported Kleopatra’s length at about that may cause cancer. 217 kilometers. More recently, Livermore’s Mark According to an article by these researchers in the Hammergren and his colleagues used an image-layering November 2000 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer technique called speckle interferometry (S&TR, April 2000, Institute, frying hamburger patties at a pan temperature pp. 17–18) to revise that estimate to about 250 kilometers. of 160°C and turning the patties every minute speeds the Using the 10-meter Keck telescope in Hawaii equipped with cooking process and reduces the formation of harmful, a special high-speed infrared camera, they snapped about potentially cancer-causing compounds. 100 images in a single night of the near-infrared light reflected Before being cooked, the burgers were also inoculated from the asteroid to sample a set of 22 positions in Kleopatra’s with a strain of E. coli bacteria but were found to be rotation. The high-speed imaging technique negates the essentially bacteria-free after being cooked to an internal Earth’s rapidly changing atmospheric effects, which can temperature of 70°C, regardless of pan temperature and distort distant objects in space. frequency of turning. Kleopatra is unusual
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Historical Perspective on the United States Fusion Program
    Historical Perspective on the United States Fusion Program Invited paper presented at American Nuclear Society 16th Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy 14-16 September, 2004 in Madison, WI Stephen O. Dean Fusion Power Associates, 2 Professional Drive, Suite 249, Gaithersburg, MD 20879 [email protected] A variety of methods to heat the nuclei to the Progress and Policy is traced over the approximately high speeds (kinetic energies) required to penetrate the 55 year history of the U. S. Fusion Program. The Coulomb barrier have been successfully utilized, classified beginnings of the effort in the 1950s ended with including running a high current through an ionized declassification in 1958. The effort struggled during the hydrogen gas ("ohmic heating"), accelerating beams of 1960s, but ended on a positive note with the emergence of nuclei, and using radio-frequency power. Temperatures the tokamak and the promise of laser fusion. The decade well in excess of the 50 million degrees needed for fusion of the 1970s was the “Golden Age” of fusion, with large are now routinely achieved. budget increases and the construction of many new facilities, including the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor II. THE 1960s AND 1970s (TFTR) and the Shiva laser. The decade ended on a high note with the passage of the Magnetic Fusion Energy During the decade of the 1960s, and continuing Engineering Act of 1980, overwhelming approved by to the present, scientists developed a whole new branch of Congress and signed by President Carter. The Act called physics, called plasma physics [3], to describe the for a “$20 billion, 20-year” effort aimed at construction behavior of these plasmas in various magnetic of a fusion Demonstration Power Plant around the end of configurations, and sophisticated theories, models and the century.
    [Show full text]
  • Nova Laser Technology
    Nova Laser Technology In building the Nova laser, we have significantly advanced many technologies, including the generation and propagation of laser beams. We have also developed innovations in the fields of alignment, diagnostics, computer control, and image processIng.• For further information contact Nova is the world's most powerful at least 10 to 30 times more energetic John F. Holzrichter (415) 423-7454. laser system. It is designed to heat and than Shiva would be needed to compress small targets, typically 0.1 cm investigate ignition conditions and in size, to conditions otherwise produced possibly to reach gains near unity. only in nuclear weapons or in the Because of the importance of such a interior of stars. Its beams can facility to the progress of inertial fusion concentrate 80 to 120 kJ of energy (in research and because of the construction 3 ns) or 80 to 120 TW of power (in time entailed (at least five to seven 100 ps) on such targets. To couple energy years), the Nova project was proposed to more favorably with the target, Nova's the Energy Research and Development laser light will be harmonically converted Administration and to Congress. It was with greater than 50% efficiency from its decided to base this system on the near-infrared fundamental wavelength proven master-oscillator, linear-amplifier­ (1.05-,um wavelength) to green (0.525- chain laser system used on the Argus ,um) or blue (0.35-,um) wavelengths. The and Shiva systems. We had great goals of our experiments with Nova are confidence in extending this to make accurate measurements of high­ neodymium-glass laser technology to the temperature and high-pressure states of 200- to 300-kJ level.
    [Show full text]
  • ENGINEERING DESIGN of the NOVA LASER FACILITY for By
    ENGINEERING DESIGN OF THE NOVA LASER FACILITY FOR INERTIAL-CONFINEMENT FUSION* by W. W. Simmons, R. 0. Godwin, C. A. Hurley, E. P. Wallerstein, K. Whitham, J. E. Murray, E. S. Bliss, R. G. Ozarski. M. A. Summers, F. Rienecker, D. G. Gritton, F. W. Holloway, G. J. Suski, J. R. Severyn, and the Nova Engineering Team. Abstract The design of the Nova Laser Facility for inertia! confinement fusion experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is presented from an engineering perspective. Emphasis is placed upon design-to- performance requirements as they impact the various subsystems that comprise this complex experimental facility. - DISCLAIMER - CO;.T-CI104n--17D DEf;2 013.375 *Research performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract number W-7405-ENG-48. Foreword The Nova Laser System for Inertial Confinement Fusion studies at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories represents a sophisticated engineering challenge to the national scientific and industrial community, embodying many disciplines - optical, mechanical, power and controls engineering for examples - employing state-of-the-art components and techniques. The papers collected here form a systematic, comprehensive presentation of the system engineering involved in the design, construction and operation of the Nova Facility, presently under construction at LLNL and scheduled for first operations in 1985. The 1st and 2nd Chapters present laser design and performance, as well as an introductory overview of the entire system; Chapters 3, 4 and 5 describe the major engineering subsystems; Chapters 6, 7, 8 and 9 document laser and target systems technology, including optical harmonic frequency conversion, its ramifications, and its impact upon other subsystems; and Chapters 10, 11, and 12 present an extensive discussion of our integrated approach to command, control and communications for the entire system.
    [Show full text]
  • Nuclear Weapons Databook
    Nuclear Weapons Databook Volume I11 U.S. Nuclear Warhead Facility Profiles Nuclear Weapons Databook Volume I11 U.S. Nuclear Warhead Facility Profiles Thomas B. Cochran, William M. Arkin, Robert S. Morris, and Milton M. Hoenig A book by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. BALUNGER PUBLISHING COMPANY Cambridge, Massachusetts A Subsidiary of Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. Copyright a 1987 by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or trans- mitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the publisher. International Standard Book Number: 0-88730-126-6 (CL) 0-88730-146-0 (PB) Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 82-24376 Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress CataloGng-iii-PublicationData U.S. nuclear warhead facility profiles. (Nuclear weapons databook ;v. 3) "A book by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc." Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Nuclear weapons-United States. 2. Munitions-United States. I. Cochran, Thomas B. 11. Natural Resources Defense Council. 111. Title: US nuclear warhead facility profiles. IV. Title: United States nuclear warhead facility profiles. V. Series: Cochran, Thomas B. Nuclear weapons databook ;v. 3. U264.C6 1984 vol. 3 355.8'25119'0973 87-14552 [U264] ISBN 0-88410-172-X (v. 1) ISBN 0-88410-173-8 (pbk. : v. 1) ISBN 0-88730-124-X (v. 2) ISBN 0-88730-125-8 (pbk. : v. 2) ISBN 0-88730-126-6 (v. 3) ISBN 0-88730-146-0 (pbk.
    [Show full text]
  • Lasers Join the Quest for Fusion Energy
    1974 Lasers and ICF Lasers Join the Quest to gain a better understanding of laser plasma physics and thermonuclear physics and to demonstrate for Fusion Energy laser-induced compression and thermonuclear burn of deuterium–tritium. It was also used to improve the LASNEX computer code developed for laser With the goal of achieving energy gain fusion predictions. Janus was just the In 1975, the one-beam Cyclops laser through inertial confinement fusion beginning of the development, in quick began operation, performing important (ICF) as its mission, the Laser Program succession, of a series of lasers, each target experiments and testing optical constructed its first laser for ICF building on the knowledge gained from designs for future lasers. The next year, experiments in 1974. Named Janus, the last, leading to the National Ignition the two-beam Argus was built. Use of the two-beam laser was built with about Facility (NIF), currently performing Argus increased knowledge about laser– 100 pounds of laser glass. experiments. The pace of laser target interactions and laser propagation The first Livermore laser for construction matched the growth limits, and it helped the ICF program prepared the Laboratory to take the With the 20-beam ICF research, Janus, had Under the leadership of John Emmett, in ICF diagnostics capabilities, develop technologies needed for the next major step, construction of the Shiva laser in 1977, the two beams and produced who headed the Laser Program from computer simulation tools, and next generation of laser fusion systems. 192-beam NIF (see Year 1997), where Laboratory established 10 joules of energy.
    [Show full text]
  • The Effect of Surface Processing Methods on the Laser Induced Damage Threshold of Fused Silica
    The Effect of Surface Processing Methods on the Laser Induced Damage Threshold of Fused Silica by Weiran Duan A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirements for the degree of PhD at the University of Central Lancashire October 2014 2 To my family i Declaration I declare that while registered as a candidate for the research degree, I have not been a registered candidate or enrolled student for another award of the University or other academic or professional institution. I declare that no material contained in the thesis has been used in any other submission for an academic award and is solely my own work. Weiran Duan ii Abstract High peak power laser systems, such as National Ignition Facility (NIF), Laser Mega Joule (LMJ), and High Power laser Energy Research facility (HiPER), include a large amount of optics. Fused silica glass is one of the most common optical materials which is used in these high peak power laser systems owing to its excellent optical properties, especially for the 355nm ultraviolet laser. However, it is generally found that fused silica optics damage under irradiation with a high peak power laser beam, and the laser induced damage (LID) becomes the limit to increasing the laser power. Theoretically, the laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) of fused silica substrates is high, while it drops significantly due to the poor surface quality created in the manufacturing process. This project aims to find a series of fused silica optical surface processing techniques which are able to improve the surface quality and increase its LIDT when irradiated using high peak power lasers.
    [Show full text]
  • Magnetic Confinement Fusion
    Magnetic confinement fusion - Wikipedia 1 of 7 Magnetic confinement fusion Magnetic confinement fusion is an approach to generate thermonuclear fusion power that uses magnetic fields to confine fusion fuel in the form of a plasma. Magnetic confinement is one of two major branches of fusion energy research, along with inertial confinement fusion. The magnetic approach began in the 1940s and absorbed the majority of subsequent development. Fusion reactions combine light atomic nuclei such as hydrogen to form heavier ones such as helium, producing energy. In order to overcome the electrostatic repulsion between the nuclei, they must have a temperature of tens of millions of degrees, The reaction chamber of the TCV, an creating a plasma. In addition, the plasma experimental tokamak fusion reactor at École must be contained at a sufficient density for polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland which has been used in research a sufficient time, as specified by the Lawson since it was built in 1992. The characteristic torus- criterion (triple product). shaped chamber is clad with graphite to help withstand the extreme heat (the shape is distorted Magnetic confinement fusion attempts to by the camera's fisheye lens). use the electrical conductivity of the plasma to contain it through interaction with magnetic fields. The magnetic pressure offsets the plasma pressure. Developing a suitable arrangement of fields that contain the fuel without excessive turbulence or leaking is the primary challenge of this technology. Contents History Plasma Types Magnetic mirrors Toroidal machines Z-pinch Stellarators https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_confinement_fusion Magnetic confinement fusion - Wikipedia 2 of 7 Tokamaks Compact toroids Other Magnetic fusion energy See also References External links History The development of magnetic fusion energy (MFE) came in three distinct phases.
    [Show full text]
  • Axisymmetric Tandem Mirror D-T Neutron Source
    Axisymmetric Tandem Mirror D-T Neutron Source W. Horton∗ and J. Pratt University of Texas at Austin, Institute for Fusion Studies A.W. Molvik Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory R.M. Kulsrud, N.J. Fisch Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory I. OVERVIEW We propose to harness an axisymmetric tandem mirror machine to create an intense neutron source[1] [2]. Our machine would be initially based on the successful GAMMA-10 tandem mirror experiment in Tsukuba, Japan and the Gas Dynamic Trap (GDT) mirror experiment in Novosibirsk, Russia. In addition it would be suitable for testing of several other axisymmetric stabilization methods: kinetic stabilizers [3] [4], sloshing ions, and wall stabilization, which would enable higher-Q operation than with GDT-type stabilization. The GAMMA-10 has achieved record breaking confinement results that extrapolate to the production of fusion power in a range of fusion Q from 0.1 to 5 in the near future [5]. In this work the authors outline a linear system that could produce large neutron fluxes in a spectrum nearly identical to that of the ITER device currently being built[6]. A hydrogen prototype of a D-T mirror neutron source would allow experiments on stabilization in axisymmetric cells and expanders that would lead to an optimized fusion Q design. Optimizations are needed for fusion-fission hybrid designs versus pure fusion designs. II. ADVANTAGES OF TANDEM MIRRORS The linear axisymmetric system has major conceptual advantages over all toroidal systems. We list a few of these advantages here: (1) Simplicity of engineering with no interlinked magnetic-field coils and no volt-second transformer considerations.
    [Show full text]
  • Nuclear Diagnostics for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) Plasmas
    PSFC/JA-20-4 Nuclear diagnostics for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) plasmas J. A. Frenje January 2020 Plasma Science and Fusion Center Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA 02139 USA The work described herein was supported in part by US DOE (Grant No. DE-FG03-03SF22691), LLE (subcontract Grant No. 412160-001G) and the Center for Advanced Nuclear Diagnostics (Grant No. DE-NA0003868). Reproduction, translation, publication, use and disposal, in whole or in part, by or for the United States government is permitted. Submitted to Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion Nuclear Diagnostics for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) Plasmas J.A. Frenje1 1Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA Email: [email protected] The field of nuclear diagnostics for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) is broadly reviewed from its beginning in the seventies to present day. During this time, the sophistication of the ICF facilities and the suite of nuclear diagnostics have substantially evolved, generally a consequence of the efforts and experience gained on previous facilities. As the fusion yields have increased several orders of magnitude during these years, the quality of the nuclear-fusion-product measurements has improved significantly, facilitating an increased level of understanding about the physics governing the nuclear phase of an ICF implosion. The field of ICF has now entered an era where the fusion yields are high enough for nuclear measurements to provide spatial, temporal and spectral information, which have proven indispensable to understanding the performance of an ICF implosion. At the same time, the requirements on the nuclear diagnostics have also become more stringent.
    [Show full text]
  • STATUS of FUSION RESEARCH and IMPLICATIONS for D-3He SYSTEMS
    STATUS OF FUSION RESEARCH AND IMPLICATIONS FOR D-3He SYSTEMS George H. Miley Fusion Studies Laboratory University of Illinois 103 South Goodwin Avenue Urbana, IL 61801 World-wide programs in both magnetic confinement and inertial confinement fusion research have made steady progress towards the experimental demonstration of energy breakeven.(*-') Both approaches are now in reach of this goal within the next few years using a D-T equivalent plasma. For magnetic confinement, this step is expected in one of the large tokamak experimental devices such as TFTR (USA), JET (EC), JT-60 (Japan), or T-15 (USSR). Upgraded versions of the Nova glass laser (USA) and CEKKO (Japan) also appear to have a good chance at this goal. The light-ion beam facility "PBFA-11" is viewed as a "dark horse" candidate. Recent physics parameters obtained in these various experiments will be briefly reviewed in this presentation. However, after breakeven is achieved, considerable time and effort must still be expended to develop a usable power plant. The time schedules envisioned by workers in the various countries involved are fairly similar.(l-J) For example, the European Community (EC) proposes to go from the physics studies in JET to an engineering test reactor (NET) which has a construction decision in 1991. This is projected to result in a demonstration reactor after 2015. Plans for inertial confinement are-currently centered on the development of a "next-step'' target facility based on an advanced 5-megajoule laser on roughly the same time scale as NET.(5) The facilities required for both magnetic and inertial confinement will be large and expensive.
    [Show full text]
  • Lll Laser Program Overview
    I ~ Ellerll APR 13 1~76 ~ illid ~~WJF Destroy Telllllllllill Route - Hold mos. Prepared for U.S . Energy Research & Development lell Administration under Contract No. W-7405-Eng-48 LA.WRENCE LIVERMORE LA.BORATORY LLL LASER PROGRAM LASERS AND LASER APPLICATIONS LLL LASER PROGRAM OVERVIEW ------------------------ During the past year, substantial progress has been thermonuclear burn of microscopic targets containing made toward laser fusion, laser isotope separation, and deuterium and tritium. Experiments are being run on the development of advanced laser media, the three a single-pulse basis , the emphasis being on fa st main thrusts of the LLL laser program. diagnostics of neutron, x-ray, a-particle, and scattered Our accomplishments in laser fusion have included: laser-light fluxes from the target. Our laser source fo r • Firing and diagnosing more than 650 individual this work is the neodymium-doped-glass (Nd:glass) experiments on the O.4-TW Janus laser system laser operating in a master-oscillator, power-amplifier (including many experiments with neutron yields in configuration, where a well-characterized, mode-locked the 107 range). pulse is shaped and ampli fied by successive stages to • Producing 1 TW of on-target irradiation with a peak power of I TW in a 20-cm-diam beam. Cyclops, presently the world's most powerful Thermonuclear burn has been demonstrated. With single-beam laser. successively larger Nd :glass laser systems, we now • Completing the design for the 25-TW Shiva laser expect sequentially to demonstrate significant burn, system and ordering the long-lead-time components. light energy breakeven (equal input and output (The building to house this laser system is on schedule energies) and, finally, net energy gain.
    [Show full text]
  • Laser Confinement Fusion • Use Powerful Laser to Compress And
    Laser Confinement Fusion • Use powerful laser to compress and heat hydrogen • Hydrogen stored in very small pellets • Outside of pellet boiled off by laser beam • Ablation causes plasma • Pellet compressed 4-5 times density of liquid hydrogen •Reaches temperature/pressure of sun core • Get Fusion reaction H 3 + H 2 → He4 + n +14MeV Laser Fusion Reactor • Pellets dropped into reactor • Laser pulse (40 nsec & terawatt) ignites compression wave • Energy from fusion carried in neutrons & helium 3 • Liquid Lithium shield adsorbs neutrons and energy • Regular "steam" generator to get power Argus Laser Fusion Facility • Lawrence Livermore Labs: 2 Terawatt in 1 nsec pulse • Nd:yag/glass laser built in 1976 • Demonstrated concepts for laser confinement fusion • Problem: need to have pellet heated very uniformly • Thus next stage increased number of beams Shiva Laser Fusion Facility • 20 Beam Nd:Yag system • Lawrence Livermore Labs: 30 Terawatt, 1 nsec • Most important result: needed to go to shorter wavelength National Ignition Facility • National Ignition Facility (NIF) newest design • 1.8 megaJoul, frequency tripled Nd:glass laser • 10 ps pulse, 1019 W/cm2 • 192 beam lines combined • Test concepts with Peta Wat laser • 1.25x1015W, 0.55 ps pulse, 1021 W/cm2 • Located at Lawrence Livermore Labs Laser Flight • Use orbital laser satellites to send down beams orbital solar power satellites • Light focused and tracts aircraft • Flight takes off normally - regular engines • Switches to laser drive for cruse section of flight • Significant savings in
    [Show full text]