In the News – 2007

December 2007
Generating Laser Energy
Large laser systems could one day provide carbon-free energy from hydrogen fusion. Work now under way is paving a path from current laser technology to a fully-functioning laser-fusion power plant. The National Ignition Facility, now nearing full operation at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, will be the world's most energetic laser with an energy output of 1.8 megajoules. NIF expects to begin the first ignition experiments using inertial confinement fusion in 2010. This will be the culmination of a 50-year quest for fusion ignition and thermonuclear burn in a laboratory setting. The European Union is now considering a proposal to build a next-generation research facility called HiPER (High Power Laser Energy Research Facility). (Ingenia)

October 4, 2007
The Most Important Future Military Technologies: Super lasers, binoculars that read minds, manipulating the "human terrain"...
Laser weapons involve boundary-pushing technology that has been in development for years. After more than two decades and billions of dollars of investment, there are still no deployed laser-weapon systems, which fall under the broad category of "directed energy weapons." But even as expectations have fallen, some progress has been made. The Army, for example, is investing in an effort to develop solid-state lasers and says it will soon reach 100 kilowatts, about the minimum power needed to produce a deployable weapon. The signs look good that they will meet that goal; in February, the Solid State Heat Capacity Laser, built at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, hit the 67-kilowatt mark. (Discover)

September 21, 2007
Simulations of early experiments show laser project is on track (PDF)
The National Ignition Facility's Early Light campaign in 2003-2004 included four shots using four laser beams at high energy on a full-scale target for the first time. The resulting data has enabled unprecedented computer simulations, so closely matched to experimental results that the achievement has been published in the prestigious journal Nature Physics. (Newsline)

September 7, 2007
Commission for world's most energetic laser (PDF)
In the early hours in late July, a handful of control room operators fired a series of laser shots in a group of eight beams known as Bundle 44. The last shot lasted about 25 billionths of a second, a tiny fraction of the time it takes to blink an eye. The infrared energy output of each beam measured approximately 22 kilojoules, more than enough to meet NIF's operational and performance qualification requirements. (Newsline)

August 31, 2007
NIF experiments may answer cosmic questions (PDF)
About 70 scientists from the United States and Europe gathered at the Martinelli Center on Greenville Road this week for a NIF nuclear astrophysics workshop, the first in a series of "Science Use of NIF" workshops that will help lay the groundwork for NIF's evolution into a premier international center for experimental science early in the next decade. (Newsline)

July 2007
Experts Clash on Value of National Ignition Facility
The Federation of American Scientists recently completed a report that is critical of NIF for being behind schedule and over budget, and of questionable value to the maintenance of nuclear weapons. Those findings, however, are diametrically opposite of those in a report from the National Research Council of the National Academies that will be published in final form later this year. (Photonics Spectra)

July 18, 2007
QED recognized for cutting edge technology
QED Technologies, in conjunction with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Zygo Corporation, recently won a prestigious R&D 100 Award for 2007. The award cites QED Technologies' Magnetorheological Finishing (MRF(R)) technology as enabling the manufacture, precision and world-class performance of continuous phase plates. Continuous phase plates are a vital part of the optics chain for kilojoule- and megajoule-class laser systems such as the National Ignition Facility at LLNL. (Nanotechnology.com)

June 22, 2007
The National Ignition Facility turns 10 (PDF)
With little fanfare, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) last month marked its tenth year since its original groundbreaking. (Newsline)

April 19, 2007
Firing new shots: Using lasers to trigger fusion could prove cheaper than other techniques
The idea of using lasers to trigger fusion has a long history. It is partly behind the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, due to be completed next year. (The Economist)

January 19, 2007
Inside the National Ignition Facility (PDF)
For the National Ignition Facility (NIF), December was a hectic month, filled with record-breaking accomplishments and the achievement of important milestones. As NIF Programs Associate Director Ed Moses explained, "NIF will soon provide capabilities for a new age of science in high energy density physics. We are excited about the progress that we have made and are on track for another great year." (Newsline)