In the News

2018

April 16, 2018
Lasers squeezed iron to mimic the conditions of exoplanet cores
The experiment offers a hint of how the material behaves deep inside faraway worlds. (Science News)

April 16, 2018
Scientists May Use Lasers to Gauge if "Super-Earths" are Fit for Life
So-called “super-Earths” are the exoplanet du jour, probably because they remind us so much of home. These worlds—which have a mass higher than Earth’s but less than Neptune’s—are thought to be fairly common outside our solar system. Now, scientists using lasers to test iron samples in an experiment that could set up how we one day will gauge whether super-Earths are fit for life. (inverse.com)

April 13, 2018
A powerful new source of high-energy protons
An international team of researchers used the National Ignition Facility’s petawatt-class Advanced Radiographic Capability to begin developing a powerful new source of protons to study the extreme conditions deep inside the planets and the stars, enhance targeted tumor therapy and advance the frontiers of high energy density science. (PhysOrg)

March 30, 2018
LLNL Uses 3D Printing Glass Method to Manufacture Optical-Quality Glasses On Par with Commercial Products
LLNL researchers have successfully 3D printed optical-quality glasses that, for the first time, are on the same level as currently available commercial glass products. (3DPrint.com)

March 30, 2018
Scientists successfully print glass optics
For the first time, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have successfully 3-D-printed optical-quality glasses, on par with commercial glass products currently available on the market. (PhysOrg)

March 9, 2018
Lawrence Livermore’s Laser Facility Aims for Pinpoint Accuracy in Parts
Scientists and engineers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recently turned to Protolabs’ digital manufacturing services to rapidly produce highly precise parts and components for the lab’s National Ignition Facility, which houses the largest laser facility in the world. (R&D Magazine)

February 5, 2018
New Form of Water, Both Liquid and Solid, Is ‘Really Strange’
Long theorized to be found in the mantles of Uranus and Neptune, the confirmation of the existence of superionic ice could lead to the development of new materials. (The New York Times)

February 5, 2018
Laser experiment hints at weird in-between ice
The odd state of matter may be found within icy planets like Neptune and Uranus. (Science News)

January 10, 2018
LLNL 10 shot per second Petawatt laser installed
The L3-HAPLS advanced petawatt laser system was installed last week at the ELI Beamlines Research Center in Dolní Břežany, Czech Republic. L3-HAPLS—the world’s most advanced and highest average power, diode-pumped petawatt laser system—was designed, developed and constructed in only three years by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s NIF and Photon Science Directorate and delivered to ELI Beamlines in June 2017. (Next Big Future)

January 10, 2018
Modifying the national ignition facility to exawatt short pulses with existing technology
An exawatt-scale, short-pulse amplification architecture based upon a novel pulse compressor arrangement and amplification of long-duration chirped beam pulses is capable of extracting the full, stored energy of a NIF or NIF-like beam line. (Next Big Future)

January 5, 2018
Computational astrophysics team uncloaks magnetic fields of cosmic events
The development of ultra-intense lasers delivering the same power as the entire U.S. power grid has enabled the study of cosmic phenomena such as supernovae and black holes in earthbound laboratories. Now, a new method developed by computational astrophysicists at the University of Chicago allows scientists to analyze a key characteristic of these events: their powerful and complex magnetic fields. (Phys.Org.)