Preparing for ignition experiments on the National Ignition Facility

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a 192 beam Nd-glass laser facility presently under construction at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for performing ignition experiments for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and experiments studying high energy density (HED) science. NIF will produce 1.8 MJ, 500 TW of ultraviolet light (λ = 351 nm) making it the world's largest and most powerful laser system. NIF will be the world's preeminent facility for the study of matter at extreme temperatures and densities producing and for developing ICF. The ignition studies will an essential step in developing inertial fusion energy. The NIF Project is over 93% complete and scheduled for completion in 2009. Experiments using one beam have demonstrated that NIF can meet all of its performance goals. A detailed plan called the National Ignition Campaign (NIC) has been developed to begin ignition experiments in 2010. The plan includes the target physics and the equipment such as diagnostics, cryogenic target manipulator and user optics required for the ignition experiment. Target designs have been developed that calculate to ignite at energy as low as 1 MJ. Plans are underway to make NIF a national user facility for experiments on HED physics and nuclear science, including experiments relevant to the development of IFE.