Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory



Photo Montage of NIF People at WorkTeamwork among the various disciplines that contribute to experiments and facility operations has been a key factor in NIF’s success over the past decade.

In the decade since the first full-scale experiments were conducted on the National Ignition Facility, the skilled and dedicated members of the NIF Team, along with their many partners and collaborators, have made remarkable progress in every facet of the facility’s operations.

“Every experiment we do on NIF is this amazing choreography of exceptional and miraculous things coming together at one time. I feel incredibly privileged to be involved in every experiment I get to do on NIF. I get to work with fantastic people.”

—Louisa Pickworth, group leader, Physics Division

From the outset of facility construction in the early 1990s, NIF’s people have faced—and met—a daunting array of engineering and logistics challenges (see “The Seven Wonders of NIF”) to bring the vision of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and its laser, optics, and fusion pioneers to fruition.

Table of Contents for this special series

Thanks to the untiring efforts of these pioneers and their successors, NIF has emerged as one of the most precise, reliable, and productive scientific instruments ever built—a highly flexible and reproducible laser system capable of conducting a wide range of unique experiments in support of the nation’s security, while also advancing the frontiers of high energy density and inertial confinement fusion science.

Years of testing, learning through experience, and equipment and process improvements have enabled the NIF Team to push the envelope of laser energy and power beyond the facility’s original design criteria—while making safety a top priority in all aspects of facility operations. The team has stayed on top of ever-evolving scientific needs through new knowledge and techniques, better modeling and simulation based on experimental results, new experimental platforms, new equipment and procedures for improved efficiency, advanced diagnostics, improvements in optics, and increasingly complex custom-made targets.

Radiation Technicians at WorkNIF Radiation Control technicians Judy Zarco (left) and Myrna Gutierrez at work in a NIF radiation cleanroom. Zarco and Gutierrez were working as cleanroom custodians when they saw an opportunity for career advancement. Encouraged by NIF managers, they began a two-year full-time radiation safety program at Las Positas Community College and attended radiation control technician (RCT) training at NIF, all while working 13-hour shifts, to earn their certification as RCTs. Credit: Charlie Hunts

NIF is a crucial element of the science-based Stockpile Stewardship Program to maintain the safety, security, and reliability of the nation’s nuclear stockpile without underground testing. Researchers use NIF experiments to further their understanding of weapon physics issues and use NIF data to improve and constrain the weapon simulation codes. NIF experimental data answer specific questions to broaden the option space for weapon designers executing Life Extension programs, the regularly planned refurbishments of nuclear weapon systems to ensure long-term reliability. In addition, experiments devoted to studying inertial confinement fusion aid in investigating questions remaining from underground nuclear testing.

“We’ve all made sacrifices to get here, but it is worth it to stand here now in a structure that many said could never be built, as it performs on a day-to-day basis what many believed it couldn’t. We converted many of the naysayers into supporters of the new technology as the project proceeded. I’m proud of the team and what we’ve accomplished.”

—NIF Operations Manager Bruno Van Wonterghem

With 10 years of operation and more than 2,700 shots, the NIF Team continues to set records in power, energy, and neutron yield and to provide new insights into phenomena like the metallization of hydrogen and the extreme conditions in the interiors of distant planets. While the scientific Grand Challenge of fusion ignition remains an unrealized goal, each step in the journey helps close the gaps in our knowledge of unresolved issues. The uncharted path the team has carved is rich with discovery, invention, and new understanding. From administrative professionals to diagnostic technicians to every other profession and job skill contributing to NIF’s success, NIF’s people have and will continue to serve as committed stewards of the nation’s security and scientific leadership, now and in generations to come.

This series of articles traces their journey through NIF’s decades of dedication—a look at where we started, what we’ve accomplished, and what’s next.


More Information:

“National Ignition Facility Celebrates 10 Years of Operation,” Science & Technology Review, June 2019


Other Articles in this Series: