- Published21 Images
Inside the world's most powerful laser
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) -- a laser test facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif. -- is the world's most powerful laser. Though it faces fiscal challenges, NIF is still capable of unleashing a blast with 500 trillion watts of power. Put that another way: Five hundred terawatts is 1,000 times more power than the United States uses at any instant in time.
- The preamplifiers of the National Ignition Facility are the first step in increasing the energy of laser beams as they make their way toward the target chamber. NIF recently achieved a 500 terawatt shot - 1,000 times more power than the United States uses at any instant in time.read moreLawrence Livermore National LaboratoryShare
- This view from the bottom of the chamber shows the target positioner being inserted. Pulses from NIF's high-powered lasers race toward the Target Bay at the speed of light. They arrive at the center of the target chamber within a few trillionths of a second of each other, aligned to the accuracy of the diameter of a human hair.read moreLawrence Livermore National LaboratoryShare
- Many instruments-detectors, oscilloscopes, interferometers, streak cameras, and other diagnostics-surround the target chamber to measure the system's performance and record experimental results. By characterizing the X-rays generated during NIF experiments, the Dante soft X-ray power diagnostic, shown here, helps scientists understand how well the experiment performed.read moreLawrence Livermore National LaboratoryShare
- The NIF final optics system uses plates cut from large Potassium Dihydrogen Phosphate (KDP) crystals to convert laser light from infared to ultraviolet, which is a more favorable wavelength for fusion experiments. The system also focuses the laser light to the center of the target chamber.read moreLawrence Livermore National LaboratoryShare
- A metallic case called a hohlraum holds the fuel capsule for NIF experiments. Target handling systems precisely position the target and freeze it to cryogenic temperatures (18 kelvins, or -427 degrees Fahrenheit) so that a fusion reaction is more easily achieved.read moreLawrence Livermore National LaboratoryShare
- This potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) crystal, weighing almost 800 pounds, was produced through a newly developed rapid-growth process that takes only two months, as opposed to two years using conventional methods. Each crystal is sliced into 40-centimeter-square crystal plates. More than 600 of these plates were needed for NIF.read moreLawrence Livermore National LaboratoryShare
- The fabrication of melted and rough-cut blanks of laser glass amplifier slabs needed for NIF construction (3,072 pieces) was completed in 2005. The amplifier slabs are neodymium-doped phosphate glass manufactured by Hoya Corporation, USA and SCHOTT North America, Inc.read moreLawrence Livermore National LaboratoryShare
- Published21 Images
Inside the world's most powerful laser
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) -- a laser test facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif. -- is the world's most powerful laser. Though it faces fiscal challenges, NIF is still capable of unleashing a blast with 500 trillion watts of power. Put that another way: Five hundred terawatts is 1,000 times more power than the United States uses at any instant in time.
- Inside the world's most powerful laser