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Lasers and Optical S&T
LLNL sustainability efforts recognized by NNSA
Three of Lawrence Livermore's sustainability projects have been recognized by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) with 2013 Sustainability Awards.The awards recognize exemplary individual and team performance in advancing sustainability objectives through innovative and effective programs and projects that increase energy, water and fleet efficiency and…
Edward Moses to lead Fusion Ignition Science and Applications research effort -- Jeff Wisoff appointed acting principal associate director of NIF & Photon Science
LIVERMORE, Calif. - Edward Moses, the principal associate director for the National Ignition Facility & Photon Science (NIF&PS) Directorate, will be taking a new position to lead a two-year effort to explore the science and applications of ignition, including the commercial prospects for laser inertial fusion energy. In this role, Moses will bring together academia…
Physicist Jim Hammer receives prestigious Edward Teller Award
Jim Hammer, a physicist in the Weapons and Complex Integration Directorate (WCI) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, is a recipient of the 2013 Edward Teller Medal.The Fusion Energy Division of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) presented the award recently during the International Inertial Fusion Science Applications (IFSA) conference in Nara, Japan. Hammer was…
Lawrence Livermore to build advanced laser system in Czech Republic
LIVERMORE, Calif. - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), through Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC (LLNS), has been awarded more than $45 million to develop and deliver a state-of-the-art laser system for the European Union's Extreme Light Infrastructure Beamlines facility ( ELI-Beamlines ), under construction in Dolni Brezany near Prague in the Czech…
Laser fusion experiment yields record energy at LLNL's National Ignition Facility
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- In the early morning hours of Aug.13, Lawrence Livermore's National Ignition Facility (NIF) focused all 192 of its ultra-powerful laser beams on a tiny deuterium-tritium filled capsule. In the nanoseconds that followed, the capsule imploded and released a neutron yield of nearly 3x10 15 , or approximately 8,000 joules of neutron energy -- approximately…
Lab researchers achieve record pressure for solid iron
Iron is the most abundant element in Earth's core and the sixth most abundant element in the universe. As a key component of terrestrial planets and exoplanets, iron has been one of the most studied materials under extreme conditions.In a series of campaigns led by the Lab's Yuan Ping using the OMEGA laser at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) at the University of…
D2T3 to join the ranks at National Ignition Facility
A new employee will soon be added to the roster of those working on Level 2 of the National Ignition Facility's (NIF) Target Bay. His name is D2T3, and his duties will be a bit different than his colleagues'.D2T3 -- named for the hydrogen isotopes that serve as fuel for NIF's fusion targets -- is a radiation-detecting, remote controlled robot. Currently in testing and…
'Route 66 to the Atomic West' class visits the Lab
It's the road trip of a lifetime. One professor and 19 students traveling through 11 states in 27 days across the American West to develop an in-depth understanding of western Cold War, urban and cultural history."Route 66 to the Atomic West" is a class offered by the University of West Florida (UWF) in Pensacola, Fla. Taught by Patrick Moore, UWF public history program…
National Ignition Facility provides backdrop for "Star Trek: Into Darkness"
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- The makers of "Star Trek: Into Darkness" went boldly where few have gone before when they visited Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world's largest and most energetic laser system. With the approval of the Department of Energy, this unique facility was utilized for the first time as a film set. The filming…
NIF transitions to international science facility; Jeff Atherton named NIF director
LIVERMORE, Calif. - L. Jeffrey (Jeff) Atherton has been named director of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Director Parney Albright announced Monday.Effective May 1, Atherton will take on the role of director as NIF, the world's largest and most energetic laser, transitions to a user facility. Ed Moses will remain the…
Fiuza wins EPS Plasma Physics Ph.D. Research Award
Lawrence Fellow Frederico Fiuza is one of three recipients of this year's Ph.D. Research Award from the Plasma Physics Division of the European Physical Society (EPS). Fiuza will receive his award during the 40th EPS plasma physics conference, held in Helsinki, Finland, July 1-5. Fiuza received the award for the work on his doctoral thesis, " Multi-scale PIC Simulations of…
National Academies recommend high priority for work on Lawrence Livermore's National Ignition Facility
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- A report issued by the National Research Council highlights the significant impact of successful development of inertial fusion energy (IFE), and recommends priorities for future research in this area. As noted in this National Academies' report, "The potential benefits of inertial confinement fusion energy (abundant fuel, minimal greenhouse gas…
Lawrence Livermore research highlighted at AAAS annual meeting
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will highlight its expertise in fusion energy and space exploration when the American Association for the Advancement of Science holds its annual meeting, Feb. 14-18 in Boston. This year's meeting spotlights the "unreasonable effectiveness" of the scientific enterprise in creating economic growth, solving societal…
Livermore experiments illuminate how order arises in the cosmos
LIVERMORE, Calif. -- One of the unsolved mysteries of contemporary science is how highly organized structures can emerge from the random motion of particles. This applies to many situations ranging from astrophysical objects that extend over millions of light years to the birth of life on Earth. The surprising discovery of self-organized electromagnetic fields in counter…
Paper explores new regimes in fast ignition
Nearly 20 years ago, a group of researchers at the Laboratory proposed a hole boring process that would serve as the original scheme for fast ignition. Today, LLNL researchers are pushing this research ahead into new regimes. When a laser beam is reflected from a mirror, a finite amount of momentum - carried by light - is transferred to the mirror so that the mirror is…
LLNL researchers receive nearly $2.75 million for high energy density projects
The Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Office of Science (SC) have awarded more than $14 million in research awards as part of the Joint Program in High Energy Density Laboratory Plasmas (HEDLP). Six LLNL researchers received nearly $2.75 million for their projects. "These awards demonstrate the strong and valuable partnership…
NIF diagnostics described at American Chemical Society meeting
Laboratory researchers gave presentations about the National Ignition Facility's diagnostic equipment in a symposium organized by LLNL's Dawn Shaughnessy at the American Chemical Society's Meeting on Materials for Health and Medicine Aug. 19-23. Carol Velsco and LLNL colleagues described the Radiochemical Analysis of Gaseous Samples (RAGS) apparatus for NIF nuclear…
Yu-hsin Chen receives APS outstanding doctoral thesis award
Yu-hsin Chen, an LLNL postdoc in the NIF & PS Directorate, has been selected to receive the 2012 Marshall N. Rosenbluth Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award by the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics. The award, sponsored by General Atomics, was established to recognize "exceptional young scientists who have performed original thesis work of outstanding…
NIF team wins esteemed plasma physics award
A far-reaching discovery about laser-matter interaction with important implications for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) has led to the selection of a team of researchers named recipients of the 2012 John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research. The award, established by the American Physical Society, will be presented to LLNL researchers Debbie Callahan…
National Ignition Facility makes history with record 500 terawatt shot
LIVERMORE, CA. - Fifteen years of work by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) team paid off on July 5 with a historic record-breaking laser shot. The NIF laser system of 192 beams delivered more than 500 trillion watts (terawatts or TW) of peak power and 1.85 megajoules (MJ) of ultraviolet laser light to its target. Five hundred…
