The Power of Partnerships: How LLNL Laser Technology is Transforming Industrial Manufacturing

Research done by LLNL’s laser science and technology program in the late 1990s is an example of how LLNL’s mission-focused work advancing national security can lead to technology spin-offs with commercial importance through the Lab’s Innovation and Partnerships Office.

LLNL Selected to Lead Next-Gen Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography Research

The Department of Energy has selected a new research partnership led by LLNL that aims to lay the groundwork for the next evolution of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, centered around a Lab-developed system dubbed the BAT laser.

A Look Back at the First Inertial Confinement Fusion Experiment in 1974

Fifty years ago in December 1974, LLNL’s inertial confinement fusion program blasted a glass ball so tiny it was hardly visible to the human eye. The experiment was small, but the result was enormous.

LLNL Researchers Explore Next-Gen 3D Printing to Harness Fusion Energy

Advanced 3D printing offers one potential solution to bridging the science and technology gaps presented in manufacturing inertial confinement fusion targets. 3D-printed targets have been successfully used during two NIF experiments in 2024.

Meet NIF&PS: Mechanical Engineer Eddie Jimenez

For many LLNL employees like Eddie Jimenez, working at the Lab is a dream fulfilled. Jimenez is a senior mechanical engineer in the Engineering directorate, matrixed to NIF&PS.

LLNL Intern’s Photon Pursuits Inspired by Parents’ Extraordinary Experiences

It’s not surprising that LLNL intern Tiffany Nguyen sees her parents, who fled Vietnam on refugee boats after the war, as role models.

New Plasma Switch Cleans the Pulses in High-Power Lasers

Researchers have developed and tested an innovative plasma optic that “cleans” a high-power laser pulse by diffracting away potentially damaging pre-pulses, then rapidly switching to let the main pulse through to the target.

Circuits of Interest Led Engineering Intern to NIF&PS

An interest in engineering sparked by building circuit boards led Columbia University student Lan Huse to an internship with the NIF&PS Laser Systems Engineering & Operations (LASE) team.

Targeting Lasers as Sources

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is advancing laser-driven particle sources research to develop national security solutions.

Celebrating the Art and Science of Ignition at City Center Bishop Ranch

The intersection of science and art was the centerpiece of a celebration at City Center Bishop Ranch for LLNL’s historic fusion ignition breakthrough NIF.

Mordy Rosen Shares the Long Road to Ignition

In a paper published in Physics of Plasmas, longtime LLNL physicist Mordy Rosen details decades of pivotal events and daily challenges that led up to ignition at NIF in 2022.

LLNL Hosts French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission Leaders

Top leaders of the CEA recently visited LLNL, accentuating a rich shared history of collaboration on fundamental science that supports stockpile stewardship.

Spot-Shadowing Damage on Laser Optics

Technology named Laser Energy Optimization by Precision Adjustments to the Radiant Distribution (LEOPARD) enhances the performance of NIF.

Lab Scientists Win Three R&D 100 Awards

LLNL scientists and engineers, including a team from the NIF & Photon Science Diffractive Optics Group, have earned three awards among the top 100 inventions worldwide.

SPIE Names LLNL’s Zhi Liao a Senior Member

LLNL's Zhi Liao, the NIF&PS workforce manager, has been elected as a senior member of SPIE, the international society for optics and phonics.

A New Dimension of Glass

Scientists and engineers from NIF&PS and Physical and Life Sciences developed a process for generating trillions of nanoscale structures on meter-scale glass surfaces. Read the full story in Science & Technology Review.

Two LLNL Researchers Named to Optica’s 2024 Class of Senior Members

Paul Armstrong, a NIF&PS engineer, and Brent Stuart, operations manager for the Jupiter Laser Facility, have been named senior members of Optica.

Advancements in Z-Pinch Fusion: New Insights From Plasma Pressure Profiles

LLNL scientists reported advancements in understanding plasma pressure profiles within flow-stabilized Z-pinch fusion, a candidate for achieving net gain fusion energy in a compact device.

NIF Takes a Quantum Leap into Elusive Metallic Hydrogen

Experiments are underway in NIF’s Discovery Science program as researchers try to characterize hydrogen’s optical properties and equation of state — and perhaps create the metallic state of hydrogen predicted decades ago.

Jupiter Laser Facility Gets a Reboot

JLF helps to “deliver what we need for stockpile stewardship and Discovery Science,” NIF & Photon Science Principal Associate Director Jeff Wisoff said during the facility’s reopening celebration.