Art of Fusion

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)’s artists have created a series of posters to proudly commemorate the Lab’s historic demonstration of fusion ignition in a laboratory for the first time in a Dec. 5, 2022, experiment at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). We can all join in the celebration of the Lab’s memorable achievement with these beautiful works of art for your enjoyment.

Click on any image below to view more information about each poster. You can download and print these posters at your own expense using external resources. Please note that printing these posters on LLNL equipment is not permitted.

192 Lasers: The Power of a Star

NIF is the world's most precise and reproducible laser system. It precisely guides, amplifies, reflects, and focuses 192 powerful laser beams into a target about the size of a pencil eraser in a few billionths of a second, delivering more than 2 million joules of ultraviolet energy and 500 trillion watts of peak power.
Read More About NIF

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Design credit: James Wickboldt/LLNL

Target Chamber: Elegance in Precision

Pulses from NIF's 192 high-powered lasers, in a journey that originates more than 100 meters away in the Master Oscillator Room, race toward the Target Bay with incredible precision. When they arrive at the center of the Target Chamber, they deposit as much as 500 trillion watts of power for up to 20 billionths of a second on an eraser-sized capsule containing a target the size of a BB.
Read More about the Target Chamber

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Design credit: James Wickboldt/LLNL

NIF Discover Science

In support of NIF's stockpile stewardship mission, the laser system's unique capabilities are creating unprecedented opportunities for research in the growing field of high energy density (HED) sciencethe study of matter under extreme states of density and pressure.
Read More about High Energy Density

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Design credit: John Jett/LLNL

NIF: Visit the WORLD of TOMORROW

NIF's unique energy and power enable cutting-edge research to help keep America safe and secure, explore new frontiers of science, and lay the groundwork for a clean, sustainable source of energy.
Read More About NIF

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Design credit: John Jett/LLNL

Target Chamber

The NIF Target Chamber is a 10-meter -diameter spherical structure assembled from 10-centimeter thick aluminum panels that were preformed and welded in place. Pulses from NIF's 192 high-powered lasers, in a journey that originates more than 100 meters away in the Master Oscillator Room, race toward the Target Bay with incredible precision. When they arrive at the center of the Target Chamber, they deposit as much as 500 trillion watts of power for up to 20 billionths of a second on an eraser-sized capsule containing a target the size of a BB.
Read More About The Target Chamber

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Design credit: Brian Chavez/LLNL

Hohlraum

A hohlraum is a hollow metal cylinder about the size of a pencil eraser surrounding a fusion fuel capsule. The hohlraum converts energy from laser light into x-ray radiation that symmetrically compresses a fuel capsule.
Read More About Targets

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Design credit: Brian Chavez/LLNL

Target Positioner

NIF targets are marvels of design and manufacturing precision; some components must be machined to an accuracy of one micron with surface features no larger than approximately 10 nanometers.
Read More About Target Fabrication

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Design credit: Brian Chavez/LLNL

Stockpile Stewardship

NIF is a key element of stockpile stewardship, a science-based program run by the National Nuclear Security Administration that maintains the reliability, security, and safety of the U.S. weapons stockpile without full-scale testing.
Read More About Stockpile Stewardship

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Design credit: Brian Chavez/LLNL

NIFLANDIA: Making Tomorrowland Today

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the size of a sports stadiumthree football fields could fit inside. NIF's unique energy and power enable cutting-edge research to help keep America safe and secure, explore new frontiers of science, and lay the groundwork for a clean, sustainable source of energy.
Read More About NIF

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Design credit: Brian Chavez/LLNL

Ignition: 3.15 Megajoules – December 5, 2022

On December 5, 2022, the National Ignition Facility reached fusion ignition for the first time. This breakthrough achievement was the culmination of decades of hard work and dedication by many people at LLNL, encompassing contributions from the entire fusion, plasma, and High Energy Density (HED) science community.
Read About Achieving Fusion Ignition

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Design credit: Brian Chavez/LLNL

Ignition – NIF

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) historic achievement of fusion ignition at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) on December 5, 2022, positions the United States with a unique opportunity to lead the world scientific community's pursuit of developing fusion as a future source of clean energy.

Ignition Gives U.S. 'Unique Opportunity' to Lead World's IFE Research

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Design credit: Jay Clouse/LLNL

Laser Glass – One of the 7 Wonders of NIF

To put NIF on the path to ignition experiments, scientists, engineeers, and technicians had to overcome a daunting array of challenges. These achievements are known as The Seven Wonders of NIF.

Laser glass is the heart of the NIF laser system; its the material that amplifies the laser light to the very high energies required for experiments.
Read about the Seven Wonders of NIF
Read about Laser Glass

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Design credit: James Wickboldt/LLNL

Target Fabrication – One of the 7 Wonders of NIF

To put NIF on the path to ignition experiments, scientists, engineeers, and technicians had to overcome a daunting array of challenges. These achievements are known as The Seven Wonders of NIF. Creating targets for NIF requires interplay among target designers, materials scientists, precision engineers, and a precision fabrication and assembly complex.

The laser drives a target capsule inward at nearly a million miles an hour. Because the targets are subjected to extreme temperaturesgreater than those in the Sunand pressuressimilar to those found in the core of Jupiterduring experiments, the targets must be designed, fabricated, and assembled with extreme precision and demanding materials requirements in a clean environment.
Read about the Seven Wonders of NIF
Read about Target Fabrication

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Design credit: James Wickboldt/LLNL

Preampliflier Modules - One of the Seven Wonders of NIF

Preamplifier Modules – One of the 7 Wonders of NIF

To put NIF on the path to ignition experiments, scientists, engineeers, and technicians had to overcome a daunting array of challenges. These achievements are known as The Seven Wonders of NIF.

NIF's master oscillator generates a very small, low-energy laser pulse (see Injection Laser System). The pulse may range from less than 100 trillionths to 25 billionths of a second long and has a specific temporal shape as requested by NIF experimenters. The low-energy pulse is split and carried on optical fibers to 48 preamplifier modules (PAMs) for initial amplification and beam conditioning and shaping.
Read about the Seven Wonders of NIF
Read about Preamplifiers

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Design credit: James Wickboldt/LLNL

Computer Control System - One of the Seven Wonders of NIF

Computer Control System – One of the 7 Wonders of NIF

To put NIF on the path to ignition experiments, scientists, engineeers, and technicians had to overcome a daunting array of challenges. These achievements are known as The Seven Wonders of NIF.

More than two thousand computers running 5 million lines of code make it possible to align and fire the 192 NIF laser beams with some 800 channels of target diagnostic data efficiently and reliably several times a day.
Read about the Seven Wonders of NIF
Read about the Computer Control System

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Design credit: James Wickboldt/LLNL

Deformable Mirrors - One of the Seven Wonders of NIF

Deformable Mirrors – One of the 7 Wonders of NIF

To put NIF on the path to ignition experiments, scientists, engineeers, and technicians had to overcome a daunting array of challenges. These achievements are known as The Seven Wonders of NIF.

The deformable mirror is an adaptive optic that uses an array of actuators to bend its surface to compensate for wavefront errors in the NIF laser beams. There is one deformable mirror for each of NIF's 192 beams. Each mirror is located at the end of the main amplifier.
Read about the Seven Wonders of NIF
Read about the Deformable Mirror

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Design credit: James Wickboldt/LLNL

Optical Switch - One of the Seven Wonders of NIF

Optical Switch – One of the 7 Wonders of NIF

To put NIF on the path to ignition experiments, scientists, engineeers, and technicians had to overcome a daunting array of challenges. These achievements are known as The Seven Wonders of NIF.

A key component in the laser chain, an optical switch called a plasma electrode Pockels cell (PEPC), was invented and developed at LLNL.
Read about the Seven Wonders of NIF
Read about the Optical Switch

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Design credit: James Wickboldt/LLNL

Crystals - One of the Seven Wonders of NIF

Rapid Growth Crystals – One of the 7 Wonders of NIF

To put NIF on the path to ignition experiments, scientists, engineeers, and technicians had to overcome a daunting array of challenges. These achievements are known as The Seven Wonders of NIF.

NIF requires some 480 optics produced from large single crystals of potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) and deuterated KDP (DKDP). These crystals have special optical properties, like prisms, that transmit, refract, and break light up into its colors like those in a rainbow.
Read about the Seven Wonders
Read about Rapid Growth Crystals

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Design credit: James Wickboldt/LLNL

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I get copies of these posters from LLNL or NIF&PS?
The images are free for you to download. You can have them printed at your convenience. Please consult the LLNL Copyright and Reuse Policy for further details.

Is it okay for me to print them out myself and display them?
Download the full size posters above so that you can print them and hang on your walls and share with us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram.

Do you have other sizes that you haven’t posted, or can you make new ones in a different size?
Currently, the only size available is 24”x36”.

The media content on this website site is free to use in accordance with the LLNL Copyright and Reuse Policy.