National Ignition Facility fires record laser shot

At http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/03/national-ignition-facility-fires-record-laser-shot.html

20 Mar 2012 | 15:54 GMT | Posted by Eric Hand | Category: Physics & Mathematics

The world's largest laser has just put a little more zing in its zap. On 15 March, the 192 laser beams of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, fired a record 1.875-megajoule shot into the laser's target chamber, surpassing its 1.8-megajoule design specification. The shot, which was just a demonstration and did not incorporate a target, nonetheless represents a milepost in an effort to get past the break-even point — ignition — in coaxing fusion energy from a tiny frozen fuel pellet.

"It's a remarkable demonstration of the laser from the standpoint of its energy, its precision, its power, and its availability," says Ed Moses, NIF director. He adds that the shot was 2.03 megajoules after passing through the final focusing lens — making the NIF the world's first 2-megajoule ultraviolet laser. Final diagnostic and other optics reduced the energy to 1.875 megajoules at the centre of the target chamber.

Most of the NIF's recent shots have maxed out at 1.6 megajoules. As recently as December, the team was still only 10% of the way towards creating the overall conditions for... (more at http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/03/national-ignition-facility-fires-record-laser-shot.html )