The Laser Megajoule Facility: laser performances and comparison with computational simulation

The Laser MegaJoule (LMJ) is a 176-beam laser facility, located at the CEA CESTA near Bordeaux (France). It is designed to deliver about 1.4 MJ of energy to targets, for high energy density physics experiments, including fusion experiments. A computational system, PARC has been developed and is under deployment to automate the laser setup process, and accurately predict laser energy, spatial and temporal shapes. PARC is based on MIRO computer simulation code. For each shot on LMJ, PARC determines the characteristics of the injection laser system required to achieve the desired main laser output and supplies post-shot data analysis and reporting. The presentation compares all characteristics (energy, spatial and temporal shapes, spot size, synchronism, wavefront correction and alignment on target) after amplification and after frequency conversion with predicted results or results computed with PARC.