R&D 100 Awards

R&D Magazine sponsors the prestigious R&D 100 Award, considered one of the highest honors that can be given to inventors. Each year, the magazine selects the 100 most technologically significant products and processes submitted for consideration and honors them with an R&D 100 Award. The judges look for products or processes that promise to change people's lives, such as by significantly improving the environment, health care, or security. Since 1978, the NIF & Photon Science Directorate and its predecessor, the Laser Programs Directorate, have received 57 R&D 100 awards.

2012: Laser Energy Optimization by Precision Adjustments to the Radiant Distribution (LEOPARD)
2012: High Velocity Laser Accelerated Deposition (HVLAD)
2011: Serrated Light Illumination for Deflection-Encoded Recording (SLIDER)
2010: High-Speed Imager for Fast, Transient Events at NIF
2009: The FemtoScope—A Time Microscope
2009: Laser Beam Centering and Pointing System
2009: Spectral Sentry
2009: Precision Robotic Assembly Machine
2008: Autonomous Alignment Process for Laser Fusion Systems
2007: Continuous Phase-Plate Optics System
2006: Efficiently Changing the Color of Laser Light
2004: Diode-Pumped Solid State Heat Capacity Laser
2003: High-Average-Power Electro-Optic Q-Switch
2003: Lasershot Precision Metal Forming System
2002: Solid-State Heat- Capacity Laser (SSHCL)
2002: Silicon Microchannel Cooling System
2001: Manufacturing Laser Glass by Continuous Melting
2001: Lasershot Peen Marking System
1999: High-Power Green Laser for Precision Machining
1998: Lasershot Peening
1998: High-performance Electromagnetic Roadway Mapping
1998: Two-Color Fiber-Optic Infrared System
1998: Optic Dental Imaging System
1997: A New Precision Cutting Tool: The Femtosecond Laser
1997: Absolute Interferometer
1997: Ultra High Gradient Insulator
1997: Ultra Clean Ion Beam Sputter Deposition System
1996: SixDOF Remote Sensor
1996: Lithography System for Flat Panel Displays
1996: Micropower Impulse Radar Dipstick to Measure Fluid Levels
1996: Ultrahigh-density Magnetic Sensor
1996: Ce:LISAF, First Tunable Ultraviolet Solid-State Laser Product
1995: All Solid-State Laser with Diode Irradiance Conditions (PDF)
1995: High Average Power Solid-State Laser (PDF)
1995: Sealed Tube Electron Beam Guns for Material Processing (PDF)
1994: Rapid-Growth, High-Quality KDP Crystals (PDF)
1994: Ytterbium-Doped Apatite Laser Crystals (PDF)
1994: Efficient Multilayer Dielectric Gratings (PDF)
1993: Modular High-Power Laser Diode Array
1993: Single-Shot Transient Digitizer
1991: Thyratron Replacement Solid-State Switch
1991: Cr:LiSAF and Cr:LiCAF Lasers
1990: Ultralow-Density Silica Aerogel
1990: Ultrathin Diffractive Lens
1989: Reflective X-Ray Mesh for Lithography
1988: Neutron penumbral aperture microscope
1988: Composite polymer-glass edge cladding
1988: X-ray Laser Cavity
1987: Platinum Free Phosphate Laser Glass
1987: Highly Dispersive X-ray Mirror
1987: Zone-plate coded microscope
1987: Planar Triode pulser
1986: X-ray Beamsplitter
1986: Precision engineering research lathe
1985: Time-resolved Imaging X-ray Spectrometer
1979: Nd-Doped Fluorophosphate Laser Glass
1978: Diamond Machining Process