Quick Shot

Shot number 100,000 is a historic marker of the productivity and longevity of the OMEGA Laser System. Originally commissioned in 1995, the OMEGA shot counter has cycled the “state machine” through all shot types from diagnostic timing test shots to target shots. The 100,000 shot cycles in 25 years equates to a rate of roughly 4,000 per year. While not all of these are for investigating the various elements of ICF or HED physics, this particular one marks the 33,374th target shot, which means that more than 33% of the total were for target physics.  The balance of these on OMEGA are used for laser system shots to accomplish goals such as to balance the energy in the 60 beams, test intricately shaped pulses, and precision time various diagnostic instruments. The Omega Laser Facility is a unique national resource, and approximately 60% of the shot days are for external-non-LLE-users. So it is fitting that this milestone shot is a shot taken for Sasi Palaniyappan and his collaborators from Los Alamos National Lab conducting the CylDRT-21A campaign. Shown  is a view from port P2 of the shot inside the target chamber and a group photo of the operations team.