Status of the National Ignition Facility Project

The ultimate goal of worldwide research in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is to develop fusion as an inexhaustible, economic, environmentally safe source of electric power. Following nearly 30 years of laboratory and underground fusion experiments, the next step toward this goal is to demonstrate ignition and propagating burn of fusion fuel in the laboratory. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) Project is being constructed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for just this purpose. NIF will use advanced Nd-glass laser technology to deliver 1.8 MJ of 0.35-μm laser light in a shaped pulse, several nanoseconds in duration, achieving a peak power of 500 TW. A national community of US laboratories is participating in this project, now in its final design phase. France and the UK are collaborating on development of required technology under bilateral agreements with the US. This paper presents the status of the laser design and development of its principal components and optical elements.