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Aligning the VISAR

In the NIF Control Room, operators align the Velocity Interferometer System for Any Reflector (VISAR) diagnostic inside a target. VISAR was developed by Sandia National Laboratories scientists to study the motion of samples driven by shocks and other kinds of dynamic pressure loading. It has become a standard measurement tool in many areas where dynamic pressure loading is applied to materials (see “Measuring NIF’s Enormous Shocks”¹). Credit: James Pryatel

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¹ Measuring NIF's Enormous Shocks

Checking Shot Results

Checking Shot Results

In the NIF Control Room, Target Area Coordinator Rodrigo Miramontes-Ortiz (left) and Beam Control Operator Robert Blanton examine the shot data following NIF’s 300th shot in Fiscal Year 2015. The shot was one of a series of polar direct-drive shots to operationally qualify a new continuous phase plate (beam-smoothing optic) design (see “Shaping NIF’s Beams for Direct-Drive Experiments”¹). Credit: Jason Laurea

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¹ Shaping NIF's Beams for Direct-Drive Experiments

Control Room Countdown

Control Room Countdown

LLNL researchers and collaborators from Los Alamos National Laboratory prepare for an experiment. Every aspect of a NIF shot is checked and monitored in NIF’s NASA-style Control Room. Credit: Damien Jemison

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Hitting the Target

Hitting the Target

NIF fired its 300th laser target shot in Fiscal Year 2015 on Aug. 13, 2015, meeting the year’s goal more than six weeks early. Preparing for the shot in the NIF Control Room are (from left) Shot Director Dean Latray, Operations Manager Bruno Van Wonterghem, and Lead Operator Rod Rinnert (see NIF Fires 300th Shot in FY2015¹). Credit: Jason Laurea

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¹ NIF Fires 300th Shot in FY2015

Lining Up

Lining Up

A target alignment sensor (TAS) system manager performs the final magnification calibration on the new TAS4 in the NIF Operations Support Building. This TAS is modified to work with the new ATLAS laser-tracker-based alignment system now under development. ATLAS will be deployed in Fiscal Year 2016, and will improve the speed of positioning the TAS and target diagnostics in the Targer Chamber. (Credit: Jim Pryatel)

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Maintaining the NIF Power Supply

Maintaining the NIF Power Supply

Power Conditioning System technician Daisy Acosta-Lech removes a resistor from a power conditioning unit in a NIF capacitor bay to make room for the replacement of its spark gap switch (the cylinder to the right of Daisy’s right hand). Each spark gap switch delivers about a half-million amps to NIF’s laser amplifiers, and the four capacitor bays store and release approximately 400 megajoules (million joules) of electrical energy for each NIF shot (see Power Conditioning¹). Credit: James Pryatel

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¹ Power Conditioning

Master Oscillator Room

Master Oscillator Room

NIF laser pulses are born in the master oscillator room, in which a compact laser oscillator generates low-energy (a few nanojoules) laser pulses. The oscillator pulse is shaped in time and frequency-broadened, using the small range of multiple wavelengths produced in the fiber laser, to help smooth the intensity of the laser beam when it is ultimately focused on the target. There are 48 independent pulse shaping systems, and each of the pulses is transported on separate fiber optic cables to 48 preamplifier modules for further amplification.

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Master Oscillator Room

Master Oscillator Room

Laser beams are born in the Master Oscillator Room as very low (billionth-of-a-joule) energy pulses. On their path to the target chamber, various systems amplify and control the beams to ensure that the energy is delivered exactly as designed for target experiments.

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NIF Control Room

NIF Control Room

The NIF control room is inspired by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Mission Control room in Houston, Texas. Control room operators access data through a hierarchy of on-screen graphics menus. Operators can also view videos of the laser beams and target from camera sensors incorporated into the beampath and Target Chamber.

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Preparing for a Shot

Preparing for a Shot

In the NIF Control Room, Lead Operator Lisa Burrows, with Target Diagnostics Coordinator Mike Bolton (left) and Assistant Responsible Individual Daniel Casey, prepare for a high-energy deuterium-tritium shot. Credit: James Pryatel.

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Target Alignment Assistant Tool

Target Alignment Assistant Tool

In the the NIF control room, Beam Control Operator Marlos Hickam aligns a high-foot deuterium-tritium target using the Target Alignment Assistant Tool (TAAT). The new system saves time and also increases accuracy of target alignment compared to the manual procedure (see “New Software Tool Speeds NIF Target Alignment”¹. Credit: James Pryatel

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¹ New Software Tool Speeds NIF Target Alignment

Testing New Ideas for Targets

Testing New Ideas for Targets

In LLNL’s High Energy Density (HED) Science Center Technology Facility, Physics staff members Marius Millot (left), Federica Coppari, and Dayne Fratanduono observe a diamond anvil cell, similar to the ones used for their recent discovery of superionic water ice¹ (technician Renee Posadas Soriano is in the background). Innovative experiments often require testing and trying before viable concepts for new experiments and targets emerge. The HED Science Center Technology Facility in Bldg. 161 offers HED Science Center² physicists and outside collaborators tools, instrumentation and support. Credit: Jason Laurea

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¹ Recent discovery of superionic water ice

² HED Science Center

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