New Era of Plasma Nuclear Science Opens on the Omega Laser Facility

2011:

LLE ushered in a new frontier of plasma nuclear science at the Omega Laser Facility by measuring a nuclear scattering cross section more precisely than ever determined before with particle accelerators. “This is the first time a high-energy-density laser facility has been used to advance the field of nuclear physics,” said Dr. David Meyerhofer, LLE Deputy Director and Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Physics & Astronomy. A research team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and the University of Rochester worked on the project and published their findings in the 16 September 2011 Physical Review Letters.

Shown here is the OMEGA Target Bay containing the charged-particle spectrometer (CPS) used for n-D and n-T differential cross-section measurements