CASC Newsletter | Vol 13 | July 2023
July 11, 2023-
LLNL’s Center for Applied Scientific Computing (CASC)—“siblings of a sort” with NIF—has made many contributions to making controlled laboratory fusion ignition possible.
Defense Programs Awards of Excellence recognize innovation and achievements in 2021
July 7, 2023-
The NNSA honored a team of LLNL multidisciplinary experts for the Aug. 8, 2021 experiment at NIF that exceeded Lawson’s criterion for nuclear fusion.
New NIF Experimental Platform Will Probe Warm Dense Matter
July 5, 2023-
Warm dense matter (WDM) is present in the interior of planets and some stars and is also produced in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments. A new NIF platform will provide unique, high-quality experimental data to guide the complex models required to simulate the properties of WDM.
Advanced Masking Technology Enables New Applications for Metasurface Optics
July 5, 2023-
Optics researchers at LLNL have refined their novel metasurface process to create taller features without increasing feature-to-feature spacing, an advance that unlocks exciting new design possibilities for NIF and other advanced laser systems.
How AI Predicted Fusion Ignition Before It Happened
June 21, 2023-
At 1:03 a.m. on Dec. 5, 2022, 192 laser beams at the National Ignition Facility focused 2.05 megajoules of energy onto a peppercorn-sized capsule of frozen hydrogen fuel. In this talk, Humbird and Peterson discussed the breakthrough experiment, nuclear fusion, and how we used machine learning to call the shot heard around the world.
High Performance Computing, AI, and Cognitive Simulation Helped LLNL Conquer Fusion Ignition
June 21, 2023-
Part 10 of “The Age of Ignition,” a NIF & Photon Science News Special Report describing the elements of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s fusion breakthrough at the National Ignition Facility
Telly Awards Honor Two LLNL Videos
June 14, 2023-
The 44th Annual Telly Awards honored LLNL with five awards for two videos that helped announce the Lab’s fusion ignition achievement and visualize how experiments happen at NIF.
NIF Laser Safety Protocols Laid a Foundation for Historic LLNL Ignition Shot
June 7, 2023-
When a Lab principal investigator told NIF&PS Work Planner (WP) Sandeep Bansal about what was thought to be a simple plan to install a new laser system for research, she immediately knew it would be more complicated than just firing the laser.
Bringing the Literature on Laser-Plasma Interactions Up to Date
May 31, 2023-
For many years, LLNL physicist Pierre Michel, an internationally known expert on the physics of laser-plasma interactions (LPI), saw a gap in his field’s literature: the lack of an up-to-date textbook on LPI relevant to the kind of experiments conducted on NIF.
Video: Meet Laser Physicist Issa Tamer
May 31, 2023-
As a high school student, Issa Tamer knew he liked science, but wasn’t sure what discipline to pursue. That all changed when at his part-time job setting up computers, he happened to see the Wikipedia page for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) on a customer’s monitor.
Optics for Petawatt Pulses
May 31, 2023-
As the home of the world’s largest and most energetic laser, Lawrence Livermore regularly stands at the forefront of high-energy-density physics research. The Laboratory’s laser systems create extreme experimental conditions by exploiting a simple relationship: power is defined as energy transfer over time.
Experiments Shed Light on Pressure-Driven Ionization in Giant Planets and Stars
May 24, 2023-
Scientists have conducted laboratory experiments at LLNL’s NIF that provide new insights on the complex process of pressure-driven ionization in giant planets and stars.
Backlighter Tech: Automated Software to Optimize NIF Shot Efficiency
May 15, 2023-
Automation of the fiber-delay backlighter (FDBL) diagnostic technique has reduced the execution time for NIF experiments and allows for the optimization of shot scheduling.
Igniting the future: Hundreds gather to celebrate historic fusion achievement
May 15, 2023-
On a day certain to rank in the upper echelon of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s historical milestones, Department of Energy (DOE) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) officials, members of Congress, past Lab directors, employees and partners gathered on May 8 to celebrate the Lab’s 2022 fusion ignition achievement.
Ignition Day Celebration Photos
May 15, 2023-
Here are photos from LLNL’s May 8 celebration of the Lab’s achievement of fusion ignition.
Krell Institute Honors LLNL Physicist Tammy Ma
May 10, 2023-
The Krell Institute, a nonprofit organization serving the scientific and educational communities, has awarded LLNL physicist Tammy Ma with its 2023 James Corones Award in Leadership, Community Building, and Communication.
NIF Sustainment: Ensuring the Next 20 Years of Progress
May 10, 2023-
Part 9 of “The Age of Ignition,” a NIF & Photon Science News Special Report describing the elements of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s fusion breakthrough at the National Ignition Facility
NIF and JLF User Groups Look Beyond Ignition to Bright Possibilities in Science
May 4, 2023-
Attendees at this year’s NIF and JLF User Groups Meeting celebrated Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) recent fusion ignition breakthrough at the National Ignition Facility, but also kept their focus on looking ahead to a bright future of high energy density (HED) science research.
Unraveling Warm Dense Matter: From Simulations to Experiments
April 24, 2023-
Researchers at LLNL and many other facilities are increasingly intrigued by warm dense matter (WDM), an extreme state between cold matter and hot plasma characterized by high temperatures, high pressures, and densities approaching and even partially exceeding solid objects.
Iron Under Extremes
April 24, 2023-
Science & Technology Review: LLNL scientists have performed a series of experiments through NIF’s Discovery Science Program to replicate the extreme conditions within super-Earth cores.