Quick Shot

The Omega Laser Facility is housed in three, interconnected buildings roughly the size of two football fields. However, because of the intricate nature of transporting high-power laser beams, the environment within these buildings requires extremely stringent air-quality standards, effectively making these buildings very large clean rooms. In order to maintain a low-particulate environment, a specialized workforce, detailed procedures, and specialized equipment are required. Contamination control measures are essential to protect the ~4500 lenses, mirrors, and other optics of OMEGA. Any particulate on a glass surface may absorb, refract, or reflect light and can lead to reduced transmission, local overheating that can cause substrate or coating damage, and beam-intensity modulations. Although the Laser and Target Bays in the Omega Facility are rated class 1000, they are treated as class 100 to reduce long-term contamination. From the LLE viewing galleries, one can frequently see personnel in full suits, such as in the image above of Laboratory Technician Muhsin Umsu (“Moose”). All personnel accessing these technical areas receive training on contamination control procedures.