The virtual beamline (VBL) laser simulation code

Design, activation, and operation of large laser systems rely on accurate, efficient, user-friendly simulation of laser performance. At the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the principle tool for this simulation over the past ten years has been the VBL, an outgrowth of the Prop code that uses the same text-file input grammar and is closely integrated with the Laser Performance Operations Model (LPOM). Here, we describe the physics capabilities of this code, its user interface, and our plans for near-term future developments.