LLNL researchers have used multi-material 3D printing to create tailored gradient refractive index glass optics that could make novel optics for future laser and optical systems, military specialized eyewear, and virtual reality goggles. Read more...
Texas A&M University honored LLNL physicist Kelli Humbird with its 2020-21 Young Former Student award for her work combining machine learning with ICF research. Read more...
This target, hohlraum, and VISAR diagnostic cone go from 400 degrees below zero Fahrenheit to about 4 million °F in a few billionths of a second. Learn why in our photo gallery. Read more...
Science magazine reports on how new target designs, laser pulse shapes, and better diagnostics are bringing NIF researchers closer to a milestone known as “burning plasma” (external link). Read more...
December 3, 2020
Our video explores how lasers have dramatically impacted our lives and how researchers at LLNL and NIF use them to push the boundaries of science and technology. Read more...
LLNL’s newest high performance computing cluster will support NIF’s inertial confinement fusion experiments, perform functions for the NNSA, and boost the Lab’s COVID-19 research. Read more...
November 18, 2020
Scientists and engineers from NIF and General Atomics work side-by-side helping to keep the nation secure and to expand the frontiers of science. Read more...
NIF’s Summer Scholar Program went virtual this year thanks to the hard work, quick thinking, and inventiveness of key leaders. Read more...
Alexus Warchock was initially disappointed when she learned the NIF & Photon Science Summer Scholar Program would be virtual. But her successful internship turned into a part-time job. Read more...
November 12, 2020
A Science News magazine cover story explores how NIF&PS physicist Hye-Sook Park and a team of researchers are using giant lasers to reveal the details of massive stellar explosions. Read more...
October 21, 2020
NIF’s Laurent Divol was one of four LLNL scientists selected as a 2020 American Physical Society fellow. Read more...
LLNL’s sixth annual Early and Mid-Career Recognition (EMCR) Program included two scientists who have made a significant impact at NIF.
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Computer scientist Jarom Nelson has been working on the development and release of Virtual Beamline++ (VBL++). He also has his creative outlets: musical theater and choral singing. Read more...
Andrea Ghez, co-winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in physics, has close ties to LLNL, including her work using the LLNL Keck Laser Guide Star to chart the mass of the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. Read more...
October 1, 2020
Researchers have found a novel way to incorporate machine learning and neural networks to significantly speed up ICF physics simulations. Read more...
Kelli Humbird came to LLNL as a student intern and became a teacher of new data science techniques. Read more...
In a seminar for NIF, visiting Professor Mohammad Karim traced the history of science that led to NIF’s ongoing advancements in optics and photonics. Read more...
September 16, 2020
Félicie Albert, staff scientist at NIF & Photon Science and the Joint High Energy Density Sciences organization, has been elected a Kavli Fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Read more...
September 3, 2020
The world’s largest computer chip will kick open new experimental doors for the world’s largest and most energetic laser system.
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August 27, 2020
Data correlating two factors that lead to implosion asymmetries have brought LLNL scientists a step closer to understanding the gap between simulations and performance of ICF experiments at NIF. Read more...
HED scientists from LLNL helped launch the Center for Matter at Atomic Pressures to better understand the physical and astrophysical properties of matter under pressures strong enough to change the structure of individual atoms. Read more...
When NIF’s Warren Hsing rode off into retirement, friends and colleagues came together virtually to celebrate his successful career as an international leader of the high energy density science community.
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August 12, 2020
Unlike its ill-fated namesake from Greek mythology, the Icarus camera system is flying high at NIF and other research laboratories, with no end to its usefulness in sight. Read more...
LLNL research engineer Richard Leach, whose work includes automating the alignment of NIF’s lasers, was recently elected a senior member of SPIE, the International Society for Optics and Photonics. Read more...
Science & Technology Review takes a look at how scientists turned their attention to changing hohlraum shapes to further improve target performance. Read more...
August 5, 2020
As reported in Nature, the laser power of NIF helped researchers at LLNL and an international team of collaborators develop an experimental capability for measuring basic properties of matter at the highest pressures achieved in a controlled laboratory experiment. Read more...
The American Physical Society honored three LLNL scientists with the 2020 John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research, recognizing nearly a decade of work in laboratory astrophysics at NIF and other premier high energy laser facilities. Read more...