Pardeep
๑۩۩๑┼●ℛŐŶ
The National Ignition Facility
"Creating a miniature star on Earth" is the goal of the National Ignition Facility (NIF), home to the world's largest and highest-energy laser in Livermore, California. On September 29th, 2010, the NIF completed its first integrated ignition experiment, where it focused its 192 lasers on a small cylinder housing a tiny frozen capsule containing hydrogen fuel, briefly bombarding it with 1 megajoule of laser energy. The experiment was the latest in a series of tests leading to a hoped-for "ignition", where the nuclei of the atoms of the fuel inside the target capsule are made to fuse together releasing tremendous energy - potentially more energy than was put in to start the initial reaction, becoming a valuable power source. The NIF has cost over $3.5 billion since 1997 and is a part of the federally funded Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Scientists at NIF say they hope to achieve fusion by 2012. (27 photos total)
Inside the National Ignition Facility, a service system lift gives technicians access to the target chamber interior for inspection and maintenance. The chamber is a sphere 10 meters in diameter, assembled from ten-centimeter-thick aluminum panels which were preformed and then welded in place. It is covered with .3 meters of concrete which was injected with boron to absorb neutrons from the fusion reaction. The holes in the chamber permit the 192 laser beams to enter the chamber and to provide viewing ports for diagnostic tools. (NIF/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
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The single largest piece of equipment at the National Ignition Facility is its 130-ton target chamber. The design features 6 symmetric middle plates and 12 asymmetric outer plates, which were poured at the Ravenswood Aluminum Mill in Ravenswood, West Virginia. The plates were shipped to Creusot-Loire Industries in France, where they were heated and shaped in a giant press. The formed plates were then shipped to Precision Components Corp. in York, Pennsylvania, where they were trimmed and weld joints prepared. Assembly of the target chamber at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (seen here) was then performed in a temporary cylindrical steel enclosure. (NIF/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) #
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The 10-meter-diameter target chamber is lifted into place in June 1999. The spherical vacuum vessel was installed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory with one of the largest cranes in the world. (NIF/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) #
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After the target chamber was lowered into place, the seven-story walls and roof of the Target Bay were completed. (NIF/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) #
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Construction workers install equipment inside the target chamber at the National Ignition Facility. (NIF/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) #
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Concrete pedestals in the two laser bays support the beampath infrastructure system for NIF's 192 laser beams. This is one of two 96-beam laser bays that were built at the facility. (NIF/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) #
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This photo from January 2002 shows the installation of the National Ignition Facility power-conditioning system, which has more than 160 kilometers of high-voltage cable, which delivers energy to the system's 7,680 flashlamps. (NIF/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) #
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The National Ignition Facility's Laser Bay 2. The laser beams travel more than 1,000 feet before they reach the target chamber. Laser Bay 2 was commissioned on July 31, 2007. (NIF/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) #
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The fabrication of melted and rough-cut blanks of laser glass amplifier slabs needed for the NIF construction (3,072 pieces) was completed in 2005. The amplifier slabs are neodymium-doped phosphate glass manufactured by Hoya Corporation USA and Schott Glass Technologies for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. (NIF/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) #
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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory technicians John Hollis (right) and Jim McElroy install a SIDE camera in the target bay of the NIF in January of 2009. The camera was the last of NIF's 6,206 various opto-mechanical and controls system modules called "line replaceable units" or LRUs to be installed. The first LRU, a flashlamp, was installed on Sept. 26, 2001. (NIF/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) #
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The NIF requires optics produced from large single crystals of potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) and deuterated potassium dihydrogen phosphate (DKDP). Each crystal is sliced into 40-centimeter-square crystal plates. Traditionally DKDP has been produced by methods requiring approximately two years to grow a single crystal. With the development of rapid growth methods for KDP, the time required to grow a crystal has been reduced to just two months. The current rapid growth process produces optics that are up to 66cm (2 ft, 2 in) wide, 50cm (1 ft, 8 in) tall, and weighing 380 kg (840 lbs). NIF requires 192 optics produced from traditionally grown DKDP and 480 optics rapidly grown from KDP. Approximately 75 production crystals will have been grown totaling a weight of nearly 100 tons. (NIF/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) #
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Workers on the NIF target bay floor just outside the target chamber. (NIF/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory/Jacqueline McBride) #
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A technician inspects the final optics inspection (FODI) system for the NIF. When the FODI is extended into the 10-meter diameter target chamber from a diagnostic instrument manipulator, it can produce images of all 192 beamline final optics assemblies. (NIF/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) #
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The exterior of the National Ignition Facility in in Livermore, California. Construction of the facility was completed in March 2009 and it was dedicated on May 31, 2009. (NIF/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) #
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The final optics assemblies, shown here mounted on the lower hemisphere of the target chamber, contain special optics for beam conditioning, color conversion, and color separation. They also focus the beams from 40-by-40 centimeter squares of light to a spot on the target only .2 to 2 millimeters in diameter. (NIF/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) #