Page 428 - High Power Laser Handbook

396 So l i d - S t at e La s e r s The National Ignition Facility Laser 397

96 Beam Single Bundle
Performance Performance
Peak energy 500 kJ 75 kJ
Peak power 200 TW 21 TW
Wavelength .35 μm .35 μm
Positioning accuracy 100 μm rms at 100 μm
target plane
Pulse duration 20 ns 20 ns
Pulse dynamic range >25:1 50:1
Pulse spot size 600 μm 600 μm
6
8
Prepulse power < 10 W/cm 2 < 4 × 10 W/cm 2
Cycle time 8 hours max 8 hours max between
between full full system shots
system shots

Table 14.6 NIF Project Completion Criteria (PCC). A Single Eight-Beam
Bundle Needed to Demonstrate the Ability to Operate at Full NIF Equivalent
(FNE) of 1.8 MJ/500 TW, Meeting All Requirements Set Out in the 1994
Description of NIF Primary Criteria; Half of NIF (96 beams) Was Required
25
to Demonstrate Operation at 1 MJ/400 TW FNE

capsule implosion data. The program is on track to begin inertial
fusion ignition experiments by the end of 2010.
On January 14, 2009, the last of the shots necessary to satisfy the
project completion criteria was fired. Although this did not mark
the end of the commissioning of laser hardware, it did mark the
transition to a functioning scientific facility capable of carrying out
important target experiments while commissioning activities con-
tinued. As can be seen in Table 14.6, “project completion” formally
required that eight beamlines be able to operate at the full per-beam
energy, power, positioning accuracy, pulse-shape contrast, spot size,
and shot rate specified in 1994. For this interim goal, it was also
required that 96 beams could be fired simultaneously at the
1 MJ/400 TW full-NIF-equivalent level with the same precision. On
February 24–25, 2010, NIF data and progress were reviewed in detail
by a special subcommittee of the National Ignition Campaign (NIC)
Review Committee, which affirmed that “all laser performance
Completion Criteria have been met or exceeded.” Tables 14.7 and
26
14.8 support this conclusion.
To date, target physics experiments have centered on hohlraum
energetics, on the closely related topics of laser-plasma interactions
and backscatter physics, and on capsule implosion symmetry. Data
from these campaigns can be found in Glenzer et al. As one example
56