Livermore is
home to signature research facilities and capabilities,
including:
National
Ignition Facility.
A 192-beam, stadium-size laser system, NIF will be used to compress fusion targets
to conditions required for thermonuclear burn. Experiments at NIF will study
physical processes at conditions that exist only in the interior of stars and
in exploding nuclear weapons. With the first bundle of eight beams commissioned,
NIF became the most energetic laser ever built.
Powerwall at the Terascale Simulation Facility
Livermore
Computing and the Terascale
Computing Facility.
Livermore Computing is the home of a first-class computational infrastructure
for Laboratory researchers. It provides terascale computers under NNSA’s
Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program and leveraged, cost-effective
high performance computing to multiple programs under the Multiprogrammatic and
Institutional Computing (M&IC) Initiative. The Terascale Simulation Facility
houses two of the world’s most powerful computers, ASC Purple and BlueGene/L.
Contained
Firing Facility is a modern hydrodynamic test
facility for conducting experiments that use up
to 60 kilograms of high explosive. Located at the
Laboratory’s remote test area, Site 300,
the facility contains the debris from explosions
for high-quality environmental management.
Firing chamber in High
Explosives Application
Facility
High
Explosives Application Facility (HEAF) and Energetic
Materials Center.
At HEAF, teams of scientists, engineers, and technicians address nearly all aspects
of high explosives: research, development, and testing; material characterization;
and performance and safety tests. HEAF activities support the Laboratory’s
Energetic Materials Center, a national resource for research and development
of explosives, pyrotechnics, and propellants.
Gas-Gun Facility and
JASPER.
Livermore’s Gas-Gun Facility is a
20-meter-long hypervelocity gun that hurls a projectile disk into
a heavily-instrumented target area at speeds of up to 8 km/sec
(18,000 mph) to study the properties of shocked materials at high
pressures and temperatures. The Laboratory also manages for NNSA
the Joint Actinide Shock Physics Experimental Research (JASPER)
Facility, a two-state gas-gun at the Nevada Test Site.
Titan laser
target chamber
Plutonium
Facility. houses modern equipment for research
and engineering testing of nuclear materials and
is the place where plutonium expertise is developed,
nurtured, and applied. Research on highly enriched
uranium also is performed here. The Tritium Facility
will produce the tritium and deuterium targets for the National Ignition Facility.
Titan Laser. Housed at the Jupiter Facility, Titan is a combined nanosecond-long
pulse and ultra-short-pulse (sub-picosecond) laser, with hundreds of joules of
energy in each beam. This petawatt-class laser is being used for a range of
high-energy-density physics experiments, including the science of fast ignition
for inertial confinement fusion energy.
Radiation
Detection Center.
Fosters the development and support of innovative radiation detection techniques
and technologies, and it serves as an institutional resource in radiation detection
for Laboratory programs and U.S. government agencies.
Biosecurity
and Nanoscience Laboratory helps the nation
fight biological weapons and life-threatening diseases
by providing a scientific environment to detect,
identify, and characterize harmful biological pathogens
(viruses, spores, and bacteria) and chemical toxins.
NARAC response team
National
Atmosphere Release Advisory Center (NARAC) provides
tools and services that map the probable spread
of hazardous material accidentally or intentionally
released into the atmosphere. NARAC supplies atmospheric
plume predictions in time for an emergency manager to decide if taking protective
action is necessary.
Forensic Science Center
Program
for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison develops
improved methods and tools for the diagnosis, validation,
and intercomparison of global climate models, and
conducts research on a variety of problems in climate
modeling and analysis.
Special Engineering Capabilities and Unique Facilities, including engineering
laboratories and shops. Within these facilities, the Engineering Directorate
has develops special capabilities that produce leading-edge results and advance
the Laboratory’s technical expertise.
Institutes.
Several
scientific institutes, each targeting a specific field critical to Laboratory
missions, represent Livermore’s scientific interests and technical needs
to the university community and serve as an entry point to the Laboratory for
faculty, students, and administrators interested in collaboration.
Center
for Global Security Research brings scientists
and technologists together with analysts and others
from the policy community to study ways in which
technology can enhance national and international
security.
Many other specialized research
capabilities and facilities contribute to making the
Laboratory a national resource for science and technology.