LLNL, Livermore, California, USA
The Advanced Radiographic Capability (ARC) currently under development for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) will provide short (1-50 picoseconds) ultra high power (>1 Petawatt) laser pulses used for a variety of diagnostic purposes on NIF ranging from a high energy x-ray pulse source for backlighter imaging to an experimental platform for fast-ignition. A single NIF Quad (4 beams) is being upgraded to support experimentally driven, autonomous operations using either ARC or existing NIF pulses. Using its own seed oscillator, ARC generates short, wide bandwidth pulses that propagate down the existing NIF beamlines for amplification before being redirected through large aperture gratings that perform chirped pulse compression, generating a series of high-intensity pulses within the target chamber. This significant effort to integrate the ARC adds 40% additional control points to the existing NIF Quad and will be deployed in several phases over the coming year. This talk discusses some new unique ARC software controls used for short pulse operation on NIF and integration techniques being used to expedite deployment of this new diagnostic.
Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Basovizza, Italy
The control system architecture of modern experimental physics facilities needs to meet the requirements of the ever increasing complexity of the controlled devices. Whenever feasible, moving from a distributed architecture based on powerful but complex and expensive computers to an even more pervasive approach based on simple and cheap embedded systems, allows shifting the knowledge close to the devices. The BeagleBone computer, being capable of running a full featured operating system such as GNU/Linux, integrates effectively into the existing control systems and allows executing complex control functions with the required flexibility. The paper discusses the choice of the BeagleBone as embedded platform and reports some examples of control applications recently developed for the ELETTRA and FERMI@Elettra light sources.
ANL, Argonne, USA
The AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) project at ATLAS (Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System) complements the MANTRA (Measurement of Actinides Neutron TRAnsmutation) experimental campaign. To improve the precision and accuracy of AMS measurements at ATLAS, a new overall control system for AMS measurements needs to be implemented to reduce systematic errors arising from changes in transmission and ion source operation. The system will automatically and rapidly switch between different m/q settings, acquire the appropriate data and move on to the next setting. In addition to controlling the new multi-sample changer and laser ablation system, a master control program will communicate via the network to integrate the ATLAS accelerator control system, FMA control computer, and the data acquisition system.
LLNL, Livermore, California, USA
The programmable spatial shaper (PSS) within the National Ignition Facility (NIF) reduces energy on isolated optic flaws in order to lower the optics maintenance costs. This will be accomplished by using a closed-loop system for determining the optimal liquid-crystal-based spatial light pattern for beamshaping and placement of variable transmission blockers. A stand-alone prototype was developed and successfully run in a lab environment as well as on a single quad of NIF lasers following a temporary hardware reconfiguration required to support the test. Several challenges exist in directly integrating the C-based PSS engine written by an independent team into the Integrated Computer Control System (ICCS) for proof on concept on all 48 NIF laser quads. ICCS is a large-scale data-driven distributed control system written primarily in Java using CORBA to interact with +60K control points. The project plan and software design needed to specifically address the engine interface specification, configuration management, reversion plan for the existing 0% transmission blocker capability, and a multi-phase integration and demonstration schedule.
LULI, Palaiseau, France
Cilex-Apollon is a high intensity laser facility delivering at least 5 PW pulses on targets at one shot per minute, to study physics such as laser plasma electron or ion accelerator and laser plasma X-Ray sources. Under construction, Apollon is a four beam laser installation with two target areas. Such a facility causes many risks, in particular laser and ionizing radiations. The Personal Safety System (PSS) ensures to both decrease impact of dangers and limit exposure to them. Based on a risk analysis, Safety Integrity Level (SIL) has been assessed respecting international norms IEC 62061 and IEC 61511-3. To conceive a high reliability system a SIL 2 is required. The PSS is based on four laser risk levels corresponding to the different uses of Apollon. The study has been conducted according to norm EN 60825. Independent from the main command -control network the distributed system is made of a safety PLC and equipment, communicating through a safety network. The article presents the concepts, the architecture the client-server architecture, from control screens to sensors and actuators and interfaces to the access control system and the synchronization and sequence system.
LULI, Palaiseaux, France
Cilex-Apollon is a high intensity laser facility delivering at least 5 PW pulses on targets at one shot per minute, to study physics such as laser plasma electron or ion accelerator and laser plasma X-Ray sources. Under construction, Apollon is a four beam laser installation with two target areas. Apollon control system is based on Tango. The Synchronization and Security System (SSS) is the heart of this control system and has two main functions. First one is to deliver triggering signals to lasers sources and diagnostics and the second one is to ensure machine protection to guarantee optic components integrity by avoiding damages caused by abnormal operational modes. The SSS is composed of two distributed systems. Machine protection system is based on a distributed I/O system running a Labview real time application and the synchronization part is based on the distributed Greenfield Technology system. The SSS also delivers shots to the experiment areas through programmed sequences. The SSS are interfaced to Tango bus. The article presents the architecture, functionality, interfaces to others processes, performances and feedback from a first deployment on a demonstrator.
HZDR, Dresden, Germany
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Institute of Radiation Physics, Dresden, Germany
SAAS, Bannewitz, Germany
Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Basovizza, Italy
Studio di Ingegneria Giorgio Marega, Trieste, Italy
FERMI@Elettra is a Free Electron Laser (FEL) users facility based on a 1.5 GeV electron linac. The personnel safety systems allow entering the restricted areas of the facility only when safety conditions are fulfilled, and set the machine to a safe condition in case any dangerous situation is detected. Hazards are associated with accelerated electron beams and with an infrared laser used for pump-probe experiments. The safety systems are based on PLCs providing redundant logic in a fail-safe configuration. They make use of a distributed architecture based on fieldbus technology and communicate with the control system via Ethernet interfaces. The paper describes the architecture, the operational modes and the procedures that have been implemented. The experience gained in the recent operation is also reported.
Fermilab, Batavia, USA
Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Basovizza, Italy
(*) http://www.elettra.eu
(**) http://vuo.elettra.trieste.it
(***) http://www.pmi.org
LLNL, Livermore, California, USA
Product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) can be considered one enormous product that is made up of hundreds of millions of individual parts and components (or products). The ability to manage and control the physical definition, status and configuration of the sum of all of these products is a monumental undertaking yet critical to the validity of the shot experiment data and the safe operation of the facility. NIF is meeting this challenge by utilizing an integrated and graded approach to implement a suite of commercial and custom enterprise software solutions to address PLM and other facility management and configuration requirements. It has enabled the passing of needed elements of product data into downstream enterprise solutions while at the same time minimizing data replication. Strategic benefits have been realized using this approach while validating the decision for an integrated approach where more than one solution may be required to address the entire product lifecycle management process.
CEA, LE BARP cedex, France
Sopra Group, Merignac, France
The PETAL laser facility is a high energy multi-petawatt laser beam being installed in the Laser MegaJoule building facility. PETAL is designed to produce a laser beam at 3 kilojoules of energy for 0.5 picoseconds of duration. The autonomous commissioning began in 2013. In the long term, PETAL’s Control System is to be integrated in the LMJ’s Control System for a coupling with its 192 nanoseconds laser beams. The presentation gives an overview of the general control system architecture, and focuses on the use of TANGO framework in some of the subsystems software. Then the presentation explains the steps planned to develop the control system from the first laser shoots in autonomous exploitation to the merger in the LMJ’s facility.
LLNL, Livermore, California, USA
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is operated by the Integrated Computer Control System in an object-oriented, CORBA-based system distributed among over 1800 front-end processors, embedded controllers and supervisory servers. At present, NIF operates 24x7 and conducts a variety of fusion, high energy density and basic science experiments. During the past year, the control system was expanded to include a variety of new diagnostic systems, and programmable laser beam shaping and parallel shot automation for more efficient shot operations. The system is also currently being expanded with an Advanced Radiographic Capability, which will provide short (<10 picoseconds) ultra-high power (>1 Petawatt) laser pulses that will be used for a variety of diagnostic and experimental capabilities. Additional tools have been developed to support experimental planning, experimental setup, facility configuration and post shot analysis, using open-source software, commercial workflow tools, database and messaging technologies. This talk discusses the current status of the control and information systems to support a wide variety of experiments being conducted on NIF including ignition experiments.
CEA, LE BARP cedex, France
CEA/DAM/DIF, Arpajon, France
JASRI/SPring-8, Hyogo-ken, Japan
RIKEN SPring-8 Center, Innovative Light Sources Division, Hyogo, Japan
[1] T. Ishikawa et al., Nature Photonics 6, 540-544 (2012).
[2] M. Yamaga et al., ICALEPCS 2011, TUCAUST06, 2011.
ELI-BEAMS, Prague, Czech Republic
LULI, Palaiseaux, France
Cilex-Apollon is a high intensity laser facility delivering at least 5 PW pulses on targets at one shot per minute, to study physics such as laser plasma electron or ion accelerator and laser plasma X-Ray sources. Under construction, Apollon is a four beam laser installation with two target areas. To control the laser beam characteristics and alignment, more than 75 CCD cameras and 100 motors are dispatched in the facility and controlled through a Tango bus. The image acquisition and display are made at 10 Hz. Different operations are made on line, at the same rate on acquired images like binarisation, centroid calculation, size and energy of laser beam. Other operations are made off line, on stored images. The beam alignment can be operated manually or automatically. The automatic mode is based on a close loop using a transfer matrix and can correct the laser beam centering and pointing 5 times per second. The article presents the architecture, functionality, performances and feedback from a first deployment on a demonstrator.
Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Basovizza, Italy
FERMI is a users facility based on a seeded Free Electron Laser (FEL). A unique feature of FERMI in this new class of light sources is the tunability of the emitted photon beam both in terms of wavelength and polarization. Tuning is obtained by choosing the appropriate gap and phasing of the undulators in the chain and by opportunely setting the seed laser wavelength. A series of adjustments are then necessary in order to keep constant the machine parameters and optimize the radiation characteristics. We have developed a software application, named SuperGap, which does all the calculations and coordinates the operations required to set the desired wavelength and polarization. SuperGap allows operators to perform this procedure in seconds. The speed and accuracy of the wavelength change have been largely exploited during user dedicated shifts to perform various types of scans in the experimental stations. The paper describes the algorithms and numerical techniques used by SuperGap and its architecture based on the Tango control system.
Hitachi Zosen, Osaka, Japan
ICRR, Chiba, Japan
CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
LLNL, Livermore, California, USA
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the world’s largest and most energetic laser system and has the potential to generate significant levels of ionizing radiation. The NIF employs real time safety systems to monitor and mitigate the potential hazards presented by the facility. The Machine Safety System (MSS) monitors key components in the facility to allow operations while also protecting against configurations that could damage equipment. The NIF Safety Interlock System (SIS) monitors for oxygen deficiency, radiological alarms, and controls access to the facility preventing exposure to laser light and radiation. Together the SIS and MSS control permissives to the hazard generating equipment and annunciate hazard levels in the facility. To do this reliably and safely, the SIS and MSS have been designed as fail safe systems with a proven performance record now spanning over 12 years. This presentation discusses the SIS and MSS, design, implementation, operator interfaces, validation/verification, and the hazard mitigation approaches employed in the NIF. A brief discussion of common failures encountered in the design of safety systems and how to avoid them will be presented.
LLNL, Livermore, California, USA
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is the most energetic laser system in the world. During a NIF laser shot, a 20-ns ultraviolet laser pulse is split into 192 separate beams, amplified, and directed to a millimeter-sized target at the center of a 10-m target chamber. To achieve the goals of studying energy science, basic science, and national security, NIF laser shot performance is being optimized around key metrics such as implosion shape and fuel mix. These metrics are accurately quantified after each laser shot using automated signal and image processing routines to analyze raw data from over 50 specialized diagnostics that measure x-ray, optical and nuclear phenomena. Each diagnostic’s analysis is comprised of a series of inverse problems, timing analysis, and specialized processing. This talk will review the framework for general diagnostic analysis, give examples of specific algorithms used, and review the diagnostic analysis team’s recent accomplishments. The automated diagnostic analysis for x-ray, optical, and nuclear diagnostics provides accurate key performance metrics and enables NIF to achieve its goals.
LLNL, Livermore, California, USA
To optimize laser performance and minimize operating costs for high energy laser shots it is necessary to locally shadow, or block, flaws from laser light exposure in the beamline optics. Blockers are important for temporarily shadowing a flaw on an optic until the optic can be removed and repaired. To meet this need, a combination of image analysis and machine learning techniques have been developed to accurately define the list of locations where blockers should be applied. The image analysis methods extract and measure evidence of flaw candidates and their correlated downstream hot spots and this information is passed to machine learning algorithms which rank the probability that candidates are flaws that require blocking. Preliminary results indicate this method will increase the percentage of true positives from less than 20% to about 90%, while significantly reducing recall – the total number of candidates brought forward for review.
LLNL, Livermore, California, USA
The Disposable Debris-Shield (DDS) Attenuation Tool is software that leverages Automatic Alignment image analysis results and takes advantage of the DDS motorized insertion and removal to compute the in-situ transmission of the 192 NIF DDS. The NIF employs glass DDS to protect the final optics from debris and shrapnel generated by the laser-target interaction. Each DDS transmission must be closely monitored and replaced when its physical characteristics impact laser performance. The tool was developed to calculate the transmission by obtaining the total pixel intensity of acquired images with the debris shield inserted and removed. These total intensities existed in the Automatic Alignment image processing algorithms. The tool uses this data, adding the capability to specify DDS to test, moves the DDS, performs calculations, and saves data to an output file. It operates on all 192 beams of the NIF in parallel, and has shown a discrepancy between laser predictive models and actual. As qualification the transmission of new DDS were tested, with known transmissions supplied by the vendor. This demonstrated the tool capable of measuring in-situ DDS transmission to better than 0.5% rms.
ELI-BEAMS, Prague, Czech Republic
ELI-Beamlines will be a high-energy, high repetition-rate laser pillar of the ELI (Extreme Light Infrastructure) project. It will be an international user facility for both academic and applied research, scheduled to provide user capability from the beginning of 2017. As part of the development of L1 laser beamline we are developing a prototype control system. The beamline repetition rate of 1kHz with its femtosecond pulse accuracy puts demanding requirements on both control and synchronization systems. A low-jitter high-precision commercial timing system will be deployed to accompany both EPICS- and LabVIEW-based control system nodes, many of which will be enhanced for real-time responsiveness. Data acquisition will be supported by an in-house time-stamping mechanism relying on sub-millisecond system responses. The synergy of LabVIEW Real-Time and EPICS within particular nodes should be secured by advanced techniques to achieve both fast responsiveness and high data-throughput.
*tomas.mazanec@eli-beams.eu
GreenField Technology, Breuillet, France
CEA, Arpajon, France
DESY, Hamburg, Germany
* see e.g. http://doocs.desy.de
** see e.g. http//jddd.desy.de
Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Basovizza, Italy
Evolution of the FERMI@Elettra Beam Based Feedbacks FERMI@Elettra is the first seeded Free Electron Laser (FEL) users facility. A number of shot-to-shot feedback loops running synchronously at the machine repetition rate stabilize the electron beam trajectory, energy and bunch length, as well as the trajectory of the laser beams used for the seeding and pump-probe experiments. They are based on a flexible real-time distributed framework integrated into the control system. The interdependence between feedback loops and the need to react coordinately to different operating conditions lead to the development of a real-time supervisor capable of controlling each loop depending on critical machine parameters not directly involved in the feedbacks. The overall system architecture, performance and user interfaces are presented.
NCBJ, Świerk/Otwock, Poland
Warsaw University of Technology, Institute of Electronic Systems, Warsaw, Poland
DESY, Hamburg, Germany
LLNL, Livermore, California, USA
For many experiments planned on the National Ignition Facility (NIF), high-energy x-ray backlighters are an important diagnostic. NIF will be deploying this year a new Advanced Radiographic Capability (ARC) for generating these high-energy short-pulses. The precision of the Automatic Alignment (AA) for ARC is an important element in the success of the enhancement. A key aspect of the ARC AA is integration of the new alignment capabilities without disturbing the existing AA operations of NIF. Small pointing tolerances of 5 micron precision to a 10 micron target are required. After main amplification the beams are shortened by up to 1,000x in time in the ARC compressor vessel and aimed at backlighter targets in the NIF target chamber. Alignment Stability and Verification of the compressor gratings is critical to ensuring the ARC pulses meet their experimental specifications.
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
The NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) at BNL uses many different beams to do experiments associated with evaluating the possible risks to astronauts in space environments. This facility became operational in 2003 and operates from the AGS Booster synchrotron. In order to simulate the space radiation environment some of these experiments need to make use of beams of various energies. To simulate solar flare events, we implemented the Solar Particle Simulator in 2005. This system put in modifications to the accelerator controls to allow beam energies to be changed automatically, enabling target samples to be irradiated with many energies of the same type of ion, without having to make use of degraders. To simulate Galactic Cosmic events, they need to also be able to automatically change the ions used to irradiate a single sample. This project aims to allow NSRL to change ions as well as beam energies within a very short period of time. To do this requires modifications to existing controls as well as building new controls for a laser ion source. In this paper we describe NSRL, our plans to implement the Galactic Cosmic Event Simulator, and the status of the laser ion source.
LLNL, Livermore, California, USA
The Virtual Beam Line (VBL) code is essential to operate, maintain and validate the design of laser components to meet the performance goals at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF). The NIF relies upon the Laser Performance Operations Model (LPOM), whose physics engine is the Virtual Beam Line (VBL) code, to automate the setup of the laser by simulating the laser energetics of the as-built system. VBL simulates paraxial beam propagation, amplification, aberration and modulation, nonlinear self-focusing and focal behavior. Each of the NIF’s 192 beam lines are modeled in parallel on the LPOM Linux compute cluster during shot setup and validation. NIF achieved a record 1.8 MJ shot in July 2012, and LPOM (with VBL) was key to achieving the requested pulse shape. We will discuss some examples of how the VBL physics code is used to model the laser phenomena and operate the NIF laser system.
LLNL, Livermore, California, USA
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a stadium-sized facility that contains a 192-beam, 1.8-Megajoule, 500-Terawatt, ultraviolet laser system together with a 10-meter diameter target chamber. We describe techniques used to synchronize data acquired by gated x-ray imagers with laser beams at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Synchronization is achieved by collecting data from multiple beam groups with spatial and temporal separation in a single NIF shot. By optimizing the experimental setup and data analysis, repeatable measurements of 15ps or better have been achieved. This demonstrates that the facility timing system, laser, and target diagnostics, are highly stable over year-long time scales.
CEA/DAM/DIF, Arpajon, France
CEA, LE BARP cedex, France