Four years into its productive life, OMEGA reached a milestone with the firing of its 10,000thshot. The long productive lives of the LLE laser systems are ample testimony to the excellence of the LLE engineering staff augmented with strength in depth of the optics industry in the Rochester area.
Shown here is Robert Hutchison celebrates the 10,000th target shot
The development of spider-silk target mounting by Steve Noyes of LLE was published for the first time in an article in the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology.
[1] B. A. Brinker, J. M. Cavese, J. R. Miller, S. G. Noyes, S. Sheble, and L. T. Whitaker “Inertial Fusion Target Mounting Methods: New Fabrication Procedures Reduce the Mounting Support Perturbation,” J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 1 (2) 941–944 (1983.)
Figure shown of Improvements in implosion symmetry due to the use of spider silk
The first six beams of OMEGA were converted and started operating in the ultraviolet. LLE also operated the OMEGA and Glass Development Laser (GDL) for LLE experiments and those carried out by National Laser Users Facility (NLUF) users.
The OMEGA Laser is shown photographed in its own harmonic light. This picture was taken during system tests after the first six of the 24 infrared (1054-nm) beams were converted to 351-nm operation.
After a nationwide search, Robert L. McCrory, head of LLE’s Theoretical Division, was named director of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics on 1 January 1983. John Soures was appointed deputy director.
Jay M. Eastman, the chief engineer in charge of building the 24-beam laser system and the LLE director from 1981 to 1982, left the Laboratory to start Optel, a private company specializing in barcode scanners. Optel was one of many successful examples of LLE-developed technology being used by a private sector company.
In 1981, initial papers were published on LLE’s use of frequency tripling. LLE’s third-harmonic-generation schemes for high-power glass lasers allowed for highly efficient absorption of the incident laser. By tripling the frequency of the beams, more power was delivered to the target.
R. S. Craxton, “High Efficiency Frequency Tripling Schemes for High Power Nd:Glass Lasers,” IEEE J. Quantum Electron. QE-17(9) 1771–1782 (1981).
Shown here is UV laser–matter interaction experiments that demonstrate benefits of short-wavelength irradiation
Efficient third-harmonic generation was demonstrated at LLE on the Glass Development Laser (shown in image).
On 1 May 1980, a patent application was filed for a frequency-tripling technique invented by LLE scientist R. S. Craxton (U.S. Patent 4,346,314, issued 24 August 1982). The technique was first demonstrated experimentally on the Glass Development Laser (GDL) system at LLE; two papers on the subject were published in Optics Communications in September 1980. This frequency-tripling technique rapidly became a means of choice to significantly enhance the effectiveness of existing and soon-to-be-built high-power Nd:glass laser systems including OMEGA, Nova, OMEGA Upgrade, GEKKO of Japan, Ligne d’Integration Laser (LIL), Laser Mega Joule (LMJ) of France, and the National Ignition Facility (NIF).
[1] R. S. Craxton High Power Efficient Frequency Conversion of Coherent Radiation with Nonlinear Optical Elements 4, 346, 314 (1 May 1980).
[2] R. S. Craxton Theory of High Efficiency Third Harmonic Generation of High Power Nd-Glass Laser Radiation Opt. Commun. 34 (3) 474–478 (1980).
[3] W. Seka, S. D. Jacobs, J. E. Rizzo, R. Boni, and R. S. Craxton, “Demonstration of High Efficiency Third Harmonic Conversion of High Power Nd:Glass Laser Radiation,” Opt. Commun. 34 (3) 469–473 (1980).
In January 1980, the construction of the 24-beam OMEGA uniform-irradiation facility was completed and a series of 24-beam performance tests were conducted and validated by a Department of Energy review. The system demonstrated a short-pulse power of 12.2 TW at a pulse width of 53 ps (minimum specified 7.5 TW) and a long pulse energy of 1.76 kJ at a pulse width of 273 ps (minimum specified was 1.2 kJ).
Image shown is Rosemary Leary and Bob Hutchison in front of the OMEGA 24-beam Laser System.
The LLE staff was augmented during the OMEGA design and construction project with engineers and technologists from the Eastman Kodak Co. The joint OMEGA project team produced a highly effective and flexible experimental facility that stood the test of time and produced important results in the inertial confinement fusion program. Shown in this photograph is the full laboratory staff including Kodak staff in the OMEGA target area during its construction (December 1979).
