NIF & Photon Science News
Spotlight on:
Meetings & Workshops
Ignition Takes Center Stage at NIF and JLF User Groups Meeting
Ignition was the dominant theme at this year’s LLNL National Ignition Facility and Jupiter Laser Facility (NIF and JLF) User Groups Meeting. Read more...
Carolyn Albiston: A Modern Renaissance Woman
NIF Shot Data Systems software engineer Carolyn Albiston was curious about everything while growing up—sharks, fungi, the science of color—and about how different topics fit together. Read more...
April 3, 2024
LLNL’s Raspberry Simpson Named Kavli Fellow
Raspberry Simpson, a NIF&PS Directorate Lawrence Fellow, has been named a National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellow. Read more...
April 2, 2024
Postdocs to Attend Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting
Getting the chance to meet and mingle with scientists who have achieved Nobel Prize winning greatness will be the reality for five LLNL postdoctoral appointees, including Raspberry Simpson and Elizabeth Grace of NIF&PS. Read more...
March 27, 2024
Throwing Shade on Optics Damage
If the sun’s too bright, you don sunglasses to prevent glare from damaging your eyes. LLNL researchers are using this same strategy to mitigate damage to valuable optics at NIF. Read more...
Upgrading Facilities and Experiences
LLNL’s new Laser Induced compression for Grain scale with High Throughput (LIGHT) facility can produce the same conditions as NIF’s Direct Light Impulse testing strategy on a 1-centimeter scale.
Read more...
March 22, 2024
Supercomputer Suggests Path to a Super-Diamond
Another form of carbon has been predicted to be even tougher than diamond. The challenge, which inspires ongoing Discovery Science experiments at NIF, is how to create it on Earth. Read more...
March 19, 2024
Studying the Sluggish Pace of Star Formation
To search for solutions to a puzzle of why the star formation rate is declining, an international team of researchers has turned to the unprecedented capabilities of NIF. Read more...
March 12, 2024
Annie Kritcher: Tackling the Biggest Challenges
For LLNL physicist Annie Kritcher, the bigger the challenge, the better. Here’s how she became the principal designer on the LLNL team that achieved one of science’s biggest challenges—fusion ignition.
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March 6, 2024
More Shots, More Potential for Success
NIF stands to gain from a Laboratory Directed Research and Development project to explore ultrawide bandgap photoconductive devices. Read more...
John Fisher: As the Wood Turns
As a Lab IT systems administrator, John Fisher enjoys the challenge of streamlining workflows and finding efficiencies. It’s a skill he carries over to his hobby—woodworking. Read more...
February 29, 2024
DOE Secretary Honors Fusion Ignition Teams
The Fusion Ignition Team and a team that helped tell the world the story of that historic LLNL accomplishment at NIF were among the Lab project teams to earn Department of Energy Secretary’s Honor Awards.
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February 5, 2024
LLNL’s Ignition Breakthrough Published in PRL
Physical Review Letters (PRL) published one of the first peer-reviewed papers detailing LLNL’s historic achievement of fusion ignition at NIF, with companion papers in PRL and Physical Review E. Read more...
Tracing the Steps to the Fusion Ignition Breakthrough
The inside story of how LLNL ICF researchers solved physics and engineering challenges to achieve target energy gain is told in a comprehensive Reviews of Modern Physics article. Read more...
January 29, 2024
Enhanced Yield Proposal Aims to Boost NIF Yield
Studies using recent ignition experiments indicate an upgrade to 3 MJ of laser energy at NIF could result in fusion output yields in the 30 MJ range. An early stage proposal could turn this idea into reality. Read more...
January 10, 2024
Dan Casey: Applying Ignition’s Lessons to IFE
LLNL physicist Dan Casey is leveraging the knowledge gained from the decades-long pursuit of ignition to the quest for clean, safe, and abundant inertial fusion energy. Read more...
Laser Safety Officer Named LIA Fellow
Jamie King, LLNL and NIF and Photon Science certified laser safety officer, was named a fellow of the Laser Institute, the organization’s highest level of membership. Read more...
Engineer Mentors High School Robotics Team
By day, NIF&PS engineer Paul Armstrong heads up an advanced laser applications team. In his spare time, he guides a high school robotics team. Read more...
Inside the Facility That Changed the World
Time followed LLNL researchers for months as they worked to successfully repeat fusion ignition at NIF in the months following the first historic shot in December 2022. Read more...
January 3, 2024
LLNL HBCU Week Showcases Lab Expertise, Culture
LLNL HBCU Week’s goal is to increase the number of underrepresented groups in STEM fields. Lab staff presented an overview of LLNL research, culture, and career opportunities. Read more...
December 18, 2023
Who Works at NIF: The Zen of the Gem
At work, Tayyab Suratwala leads research into grinding and polishing optics for NIF. In his free time, Suratwala immerses himself in faceting brilliant gemstones. Read more...
The Age of Ignition: Anniversary Edition
A year after LLNL achieved fusion ignition at NIF, we have expanded our special report The Age of Ignition with more stories explaining how scientific history was made. 
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December 12, 2023
Probing Copper Under Extreme Pressures
In new LLNL experiments at NIF, LLNL scientists measured the extended x-ray absorption fine structure of copper to probe its temperature under extreme pressure. Read more...
Video: What is Fusion Ignition
In this edition of LLNL’s Inside the Lab video series, science communicator Maren Hunsberger explains what fusion ignition is, how it happened at NIF, and why is it important. Read more...
Ignition at NIF Makes Google’s Most Searched List
What do Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and LLNL have in common? We’re all on Google’s list of most searched for figures and moments. We appear at the 1:53 mark of this 25 years of Google Search video: View video...
December 7, 2023
Team Receives DOE Award to Establish IFE Hub
The Energy Department awarded a four-year, $16 million project to a multi-institutional team led by LLNL to accelerate IFE science and technology. This effort will be carried out by a newly established hub named STARFIRE. Read more...
Physics World Honors LLNL’s Ignition Breakthrough
LLNL’s fusion ignition achievement at NIF earned an honorable mention on Physics World’s 2023 Top 10 scientific breakthroughs list for work performed late last year after the publication picked its 2022 winners. Read more...
November 16, 2023
LLNL’s NIF Delivers Record Laser Energy
LLNL set a new record for laser energy at NIF, firing 2.2 megajoules (MJ) of energy for the first time on an ignition target. The experiment achieved ignition for the fourth time and delivered the second-highest neutron yield. Read more...
Engineering Divisions Provide Expertise to NIF
LLNL’s National Security Engineering Division and Defense Technologies Engineering Division have long histories of providing infrastructure for NIF’s operations. Read more...
NIF: An Engineering Marvel
With 7,500 large optics, 26,000 small optics, and more than 66,000 control points, NIF is a remarkable engineering and technology success story. Read more...
November 14, 2023
NIF’s Wisoff, Di Nicola Elected Optica Fellows
Jeff Wisoff, NIF&PS principal associate director, and Jean-Michel Di Nicola, Laser Science & Technology and Systems Engineering organization co-program director, were selected as Optica fellows.
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October 30, 2023
Ibo Matthews, Frank Graziani Named APS Fellows
Ibo Matthews, who began his LLNL career helping mitigate NIF optics damage, and Frank Graziani, who works to foster academic collaborations in HED research, were selected as 2023 American Physical Society fellows. Read more...
NIF Draws Big Crowds During LLNL Open House
Thousands of guests eager to see the place where the world’s first ignition reaction occurred lined up for tours during an LLNL open house for family and friends of LLNL employees. Read more...
October 26, 2023
LLNL-led Project to Advance Muon-Based Imaging
Naturally occurring subatomic particles called muons can help us see inside places like the Great Pyramid of Giza. Now LLNL has partnered with industry and academic partners to rapidly generate muons using lasers. Read more...
October 24, 2023
Young Leaders Learn from Nobel Laureates
Early-career staff scientists Kelli Humbird, Chris Young, and Brian Giera connected with Nobel laureates and discussed important global issues at an annual science and technology forum in Japan. Read more...
STEM San Joaquin Conference Celebrates 31 Years
LLNL physicist Tammy Ma, a member of the LLNL team that achieved ignition at NIF, shared her inspirational career journey as the keynote speaker at the STEM San Joaquin Conference. Read more...
October 18, 2023
LLNL Creates Birefringent All-Glass Metasurface
LLNL researchers have adapted their novel metasurface process in a way that could transform waveplate technology for high-power laser systems such as NIF. Read more...
October 12, 2023
HBCU Students, Faculty Visit Builds STEM Pipeline
LLNL hosted a group of student scholars and faculty members from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) on a recent five-day visit. Read more...
Nuclear Fusion and the Future of Energy
LLNL Director Kim Budil discussed the Lab’s Dec. 5, 2022, achievement of ignition at NIF with the Council on Foreign Relations. Read more...
October 4, 2023
Landen, Hurricane Receive Prestigious Teller Awards
Otto “Nino” Landen, LLNL ICF experiments group leader, and Omar Hurricane, ICF program chief scientist, were presented their Edward Teller Medals during the recent fusion sciences conference. Read more...
Experimental Physicist Awarded 2023 Fabre Prize
LLNL physicist Alex Zylstra has been awarded the 2023 Edouard Fabre Prize for his experimental leadership of the milestone “Hybrid-E” campaign that achieved fusion ignition at NIF. Read more...
