LLE Grows
1972:
By 1972, LLE had grown to 40 faculty and staff with a budget of $1 million.
Shown here is the LLE staff in 1972.
Laser–Matter Interaction Workshop
1971:
At a laser–matter interaction workshop held at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), LLE scientists presented the first results on the use of multiple short laser pulses to enhance absorption of laser light by laser-fusion targets. Multiple-laser-pulse irradiation (pickets) is a feature of current high-gain, direct-drive target designs.
Fusion by Laser
1971:
In June 1971, almost one year after the formal establishment of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, an article entitled “Fusion by Laser” appeared in Scientific American authored by Moshe J. Lubin (LLE Director at that time) and Arthur P. Frass of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The summary for this article states: “Experiments indicate that energy-releasing fusion reactions can be initiated, and to some extent, controlled without a confining magnetic field by focusing a powerful laser on a frozen pellet of fuel.”
M. J. Lubin and A. P. FrassFusion by LaserSci. Am. 224 (6) 21–33 (1971).
A conceptual laser-fusion reactor is shown here.
Construction of the DELTA Laser in Gavett Hall
1971:
In 1971, LLE began building DELTA, the first multibeam laser at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics. As a four-beam facility, DELTA had many unique features, including large water-cooled rod amplifiers, superconducting Faraday rotators, cryogenic deuterium targets, frequency conversion to the second harmonic, pulse shaping, and liquid-cooled slab amplifiers.
Construction of the DELTA laser began with the emptying of a large room in the ground floor of Gavett Hall, shown here.
LLE Founded
1970:
With the support of University of Rochester president and respected physicist Robert L. Sproull, the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) was founded in the fall of 1970. The mission of the Laboratory was to investigate the interaction of intense laser radiation with matter. LLE was established as a multidisciplinary teaching and research center for the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. It was the first of its kind at any U.S. university. LLE’s founding director was Moshe Lubin.
The initial operating budget was $250,000 per annum, and its initial sponsors included the New York State Science and Technology Foundation, National Science Foundation (NSF), Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), General Electric (GE), Union Carbide, and Owens-Illinois. LLE began with 13 faculty and staff members and was housed in Gavett Hall and the Hopeman Engineering Building.
Shown here is University of Rochester President Emeritus Robert L. Sproull.
Laser Fusion
Pre 1970:
Laser fusion became a focus of the Rochester work in the late 1960s. Classified meetings were held at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) including participation by R. Kidder, J. Nuckolls, J. Dawson, and M. Lubin.
“…Ray Kidder, who I can’t say enough about, had bootlegged and built at Livermore really the first high-power disk amplifier system [long-path laser]-multipass amplifier-to generate really high powers. Now, it didn’t work too well. But, it was the first hands-on experience that people were getting with a really high-power system.”
-M. Lubin interview with L. Bromberg (Laser History Project), 1987.
Show here is a 38-mm rod amplifier
Q-Machine
Pre-1970:
Early Rochester experiments emphasized a variety of different laser–plasma applications. Shown here are Laser-produced plasma and Q-machine plasma interaction (collisionless shock waves)
Nd:Glass Disk Amplifier
Pre-1970:
Many different types and sizes of Nd:glass rod amplifiers were developed and tested in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The first Rochester Nd:glass disk amplifier was built under a Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) contract.
Shown here is David Lonobile working on an early Nd:glass disk amplifier.
ALPHA Laser
Pre-1970:
The ALPHA Laser operated in the Hopeman Engineering Building on the University of Rochester River Campus for several years.
Early Lasers
Pre-1970:
The earliest lasers at the University of Rochester emphasized short-pulse (<100-ps) capability.
Early mode-locked Nd:glass oscillator-amplifier system in the Hopeman Engineering Building are shown here.
