Photo Gallery

NIF Final Optics
Two of the 48 final optics assemblies (FOAs) that convert the wavelength of NIF’s beamlines and focus the laser light into the Target Chamber. The FOAs are the last element of the main laser system and the first of the Target Area systems. Each FOA contains four integrated optics modules (IOMs) that incorporate beam conditioning, frequency conversion, focusing, diagnostic sampling, and debris shielding capabilities into a single compact assembly (see Final Optics1). Credit: Damien Jemison

NIF Groundbreaking
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director Bruce Tarter, Secretary of Energy Federico Pena, and Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher participated in the groundbreaking on May 29, 1997.

NIF Hohlraum
A NIF hohlraum. The hohlraum cylinder, which contains the NIF fusion fuel capsule, is just a few millimeters wide, about the size of a pencil eraser, with beam entrance holes at either end. The fuel capsule is the size of a small pea.

NIF Hohlraum
A metallic case called a hohlraum holds the fuel capsule for NIF experiments. Target handling systems precisely position the target and freeze it to cryogenic temperatures (18 kelvins, or -427 degrees Fahrenheit) so that a fusion reaction is more easily achieved.

NIF Hohlraum
This artist’s rendering shows a NIF target pellet inside a hohlraum capsule with laser beams entering through openings on either end. The beams compress and heat the target to the necessary conditions for nuclear fusion to occur. Ignition experiments on NIF are the result of more than 50 years of inertial confinement fusion research and development, opening the door to exploration of previously inaccessible physical regimes.

NIF in Springtime
NIF & Photon Science photographer Jason Laurea captured the colors of spring with this shot of the main entrance to the NIF facility. Ground was broken for the facility on May 29, 1997, and NIF was dedicated 12 years to the day later. NIF is 10 stories high and as wide as three football fields arranged side-by-side. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

NIF in Winter
A photo of the exterior of NIF taken during winter.

NIF Laser Bay
Each NIF laser bay is 122 meters (400 feet) long and contains 96 beamlines. This side view of Laser Bay 2 shows the four-high laser transport beamline enclosures above the preamplifier support structure.

NIF Laser Bay
View of a NIF laser bay from above. Credit: Damien Jemison

NIF Laser Bay
Seen from above, each of NIF’s two identical laser bays has two clusters of 48 beamlines, one on either side of the utility spine running down the middle of the bay.

NIF Laser Bay
As NIF’s laser beams are propagated four times through the main amplifier and twice through the power amplifier, their energy is boosted to about four megajoules of infrared laser light.

NIF Optics
Before optics are installed into the beampath, they undergo precision cleaning and have an antireflection coating applied.

NIF Target
Target fabrication manager examines a NIF hohlraum, a pencil-eraser-sized cylinder that holds the fusion target, a spherical capsule no larger than a peppercorn.

NIF Target Bay
This dramatic image of NIF beamlines entering the lower hemisphere of the NIF Target Chamber, as seen from the ground floor of the Target Bay, was taken by NIF photographer Damien Jemison. Five exposures were taken to capture the range of light in the dimly lit Target Bay. Jemison used the high dynamic range (HDR) Efex Pro program to process the five images into a single photo of one of the most spectacular views in the facility. He converted the image to monotone to simplify the chaos while enhancing the drama, then highlighted the barely visible Target Chamber by adding its blue hue back into the image. "The end result is my artistic view of how I feel when standing face-to-face with the highest-energy laser in the world," Jemison said.

NIF Target Capsule
A NIF fusion target contains a polished capsule about two millimeters in diameter, filled with cryogenic (super-cooled) hydrogen fuel. NIF uses capsules composed of plastic, diamond, or beryllium.

NIF Target Chamber
Temperatures of 100 million degrees and pressures extreme enough to compress the target to densities up to 100 times the density of lead will be created in the Target Chamber. Surrounding the target will be diagnostic equipment capable of examining in minute detail the arrival of the laser beams and the reaction of the target to this sudden deposition of energy.

NIF Target Chamber
The target chamber under construction. Holes in the target chamber provide access for the laser beams and viewing ports for NIF diagnostic equipment.

NIF Target Chamber
This view from the bottom of the chamber shows the target positioner being inserted. Pulses from NIF’s high-powered lasers race toward the Target Bay at the speed of light. They arrive at the center of the target chamber within a few trillionths of a second of each other, aligned to the accuracy of the diameter of a human hair.

NIF Target Chamber
The interior of the NIF target chamber. The service module carrying technicians can be seen on the left. The target positioner, which holds the target, is on the right.

NIF Target Chamber
On March 10, 2009, at 3:15 a.m., a 192-beam laser shot delivered 1.1 million joules of ultraviolet light to the center of the target chamber—the first time any fusion laser has broken the megajoule barrier (a megajoule is the energy consumed by 10,000 100-watt light bulbs in one second).

NIF Target Chamber
A service system lift allows technicians to access the target chamber interior for inspection and maintenance.

NIF Target Positioner
Before each experiment, a positioner precisely centers the target inside the target chamber and serves as a reference to align the laser beams.

NIF Target Positioner
The target positioner and target alignment system precisely locate a target in the NIF target chamber. The target is positioned with an accuracy of less than the thickness of a human hair.

NIF THD Target
Technician Joseph Florio prepares a tritium-hydrogen-deuterium (THD) target for an experiment. THD targets are a variant of deuterium-tritium (DT) ignition targets that have been “dudded” by mixing the fusion fuel with hydrogen. The performance of the dudded THD target is a good predictor of the neutron yield of an identical-twin DT target during NIF inertial confinement fusion implosions. THD targets also are used to experimentally diagnose the properties of the ignition hot spot and the highly compressed main fusion fuel. Credit: Jason Laurea

Nova Laser Bay
The 10-beam Nova laser included optical elements to convert infrared light to ultraviolet. Nova experiments provided confidence that a NIF-size laser could achieve thermonuclear ignition in a laboratory.

Nova Target Chamber
In 1986, Nova produced the largest laser fusion yield to date - a record 11 trillion fusion neutrons. The following year, Nova compressed a fusion fuel target to about one-thirtieth of its original diameter, close to that needed for ignition and fusion gain.

Optical Thomson Scattering Detector
Diagnostics technician Jesse Hamblen completes assembly of the new optical Thomson scattering detector in the Bldg. 391 diagnostics lab. This instrument will be used for the first time later this year to measure background light levels inside NIF hohlraums. Credit: James Pryatel

Optical Thomson Scattering Diagnostic
An extensive suite of diagnostics is required at NIF to accommodate its diverse experiments. Shown here, engineering technical associates Gene Frieders (front) and Gene Vergel de Dios work on the optical Thomson scattering diagnostic for recording time-resolved spectra from experiments. (Photo by Randy Wong.)

Optics Alignment
Technicians conducting an optics alignment after replacing a plasma electrode Pockels cell (optical switch) in the Optical Processing Facility.

Optics Processing
Optics for the National Ignition Facility must be manufactured to exacting standards. To ensure quality, precise measurements are taken on all types of small and large optics using a variety of instruments.

Optics Processing
A technician loads a wedged focus lens, a key element in the NIF final optics assembly, into a cleaning/coating frame in the Optical Processing Facility.

Optics Processing
A line-up of NIF optics after cleaning in the Optical Processing Facility.
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