LLNL, Livermore, California, USA
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the world’s most energetic laser experimental facility with 192 beams capable of delivering 2.1 MJ of 500 TW ultraviolet laser light to a target. NIF experiments facilitate the study of extreme physical conditions at temperatures exceeding 100 million K and 100 billion times atmospheric pressure allowing scientists the ability to generate conditions similar to the center of the sun and explore the physics of planetary interiors, supernovae and thermonuclear burn. This year concludes a series of optimizations and enhancements to the control & information systems to sustain the quantity of experimental target shots while developing an enhanced precision diagnostic system to optimize and increase the power and energy capabilities of the facility. In addition, many new system control and diagnostic capabilities have been commissioned to increase the understanding of target performance. This year also concludes a multi-year sustainability project to migrate the control system software to Java. This talk will report on the current status of each of these areas in support of the wide variety of experiments being conducted.
