Photons & Fusion Newsletter
Photons & Fusion is a monthly review of science and technology at the National Ignition Facility & Photon Science Directorate. For more information, submit a question.
2012
December
Topics ranging from the behavior of hydrogen and helium at extreme densities to "surprises" in planetary physics research were explored at the Laboratory during a Dec. 7 workshop on the capabilities of NIF for studying the physics and chemistry of giant planets....
November
A key to achieving symmetrical implosions in NIF ignition experiments is controlling the energy transfer between laser beams as they cross at the hohlraum laser entrance holes...
October
A tunable MEGA-ray source is being developed using an all X-band linac including an X-band rf (radio frequency) photoinjector...
September
Describing Fiscal Year 2012 as a "spectacular" year for NIF and Photon Science, NIF Director Ed Moses outlined the Directorate's accomplishments, challenges, and opportunities at All-Hands meetings on Sept. 19...
August
Much more went into NIF's record-breaking two-megajoule, 500-terawatt-plus shot on July 5 than just turning up the energy of NIF's 192 powerful lasers...
July
A key factor in NIF's recent success in reaching the 500-terawatt power milestone was the work of the NIF team to measure and find ways to compensate for amplitude modulation...
June
Technologies developed by NIF&PS researchers John Heebner, Joe Farmer, and Sasha Rubenchik are among five LLNL technologies receiving 2012 R&D100 Awards from
R&D Magazine...
May
Among the techniques being employed by NIF researchers to shorten the time between experiments is the use of x-ray images called "space-time plots" to evaluate the quality of a deuterium-tritium ice layer as it grows...
April
Laboratory experiments at large laser facilities can achieve the conditions necessary for the formation of "collisionless" shocks and provide a unique avenue for studying the nonlinear physics of shock waves...
March
The National Academies Committee on Prospects for Inertial Confinement Fusion Energy Systems has called for the establishment of a scientific-community-based roadmap for the development of inertial fusion energy (IFE) sources, with NIF as a major component...
February
About 170 scientists, students, and postdoctoral researchers attended the first NIF User Group meeting held at LLNL on February 12-15 to discuss fundamental science research opportunities at NIF...
January
Ramp-compression equation-of-state experiments on NIF should provide insights into the structure and atmospheres of newly discovered planets outside our solar system...