The National Ignition Facility: status and plans for laser fusion and high-energy-density experimental studies

The National Ignition Facility (NIF), currently under construction at the University of California´s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a $2.25B stadium-sized facility containing a 192-beam, 1.8-Megajoule, 500-Terawatt, 351-nm laser system. NIF is being built by the National Nuclear Security Agency and when completed will be the world´s largest laser system, providing a national center to study inertial confinement fusion and the physics of extreme energy densities and pressures. In NIF up to 192 energetic laser beams will compress small fusion targets to conditions where they will ignite and burn, liberating more energy than is required to initiate the fusion reactions. NIF experiments will allow the study of physical processes at temperatures approaching 100 million K and 100 billion times atmospheric pressure. These conditions exist naturally only in the interior of stars and in nuclear weapons explosions. In the course of designing the world´s most energetic laser system, a number of significant technology breakthroughs have been achieved. Research is also underway to develop a shorter pulse capability on NIF for high power applications. We discuss the technology challenges and solutions that have made NIF possible along with enhancements to NIF´s design that could lead to exawatt power levels.