The National Ignition Facility and advances on high intensity ultrafast lasers

Summary from only given. NIF is the largest laser and electro-optical mechanical system ever built. The system contains over 7,300 large and small optics, 192 power conditioning modules providing 500 MW of electrical power to over 1700 flashlamps that illuminate 3072 laser glass slabs totaling 1.5 miles in length, and a sophisticated active alignment and computer control system with nearly 60,000 control points. An overview of the facility is given.