2022 ANNUAL REPORT
The Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) is funded primarily by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National NuclearSecurity Administration’s (NNSA’s) Office of Experimental Sciences Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) Program through a five-year Cooperative Agreement. The fiscal year ending September 2022 (FY22) comprised the fourth year of work under DOE/NNSA Cooperative Agreement No. DE-NA0003856. The Laboratory is also sponsored by the New York State Energy Research Development Authority and other federal agencies such as the DOE Office of Science and the National Science Foundation. I was honored to become the fifth Director of LLE, succeeding Dr. E. Michael Campbell who retired in March 2022.
The year 2022 was exciting for the National ICF Program and LLE. Ignition was achieved at the National Ignition Facility for the first time, producing more energy out of the implosion than the input laser energy to the target. LLE has made many contributions to the pursuit of ignition, including laser technologies, diagnostics, simulation capabilities, physics understanding, and student education. Groundbreaking for the construction of a new $42M addition to the LLE Complex (funded by the University of Rochester) occurred in August 2022. LLE submitted a proposal to renew the Cooperative Agreement with DOE/NNSA for FY24–FY28
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