Timeline – 1997
Multidimensional Hydrodynamics Code DRACO
LLE began to develop a new multidimensional hydrodynamics code DRACO, which is now a workhorse at the laboratory and can run 1D, 2D, and 3D simulations using an arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian hydrodynamics formulation and, where possible, common physics routines.
Indirect-Drive and Stockpile Stewardship Support
The final focusing parabola for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Petawatt Laser is prepared for the last photometric testing of the optical thin-film coating. The parabola was coated with a high-damage-threshold, high-reflectivity coating by the Optical Manufacturing Group at LLE in a collaboration with LLNL on new laser technologies. The parabola was installed into the LLNL Nova chamber for petawatt experiments in the summer of 1997.
High-Bandwidth Frequency Tripling
LLE implemented high-bandwidth frequency tripling on the OMEGA laser.
Multibeam-Phasing Configuration
The first experiments using a “NIF-like multibeam phasing” configuration on hohlraum targets were conducted on OMEGA.
Positron Production in Multiphoton Scattering
“Positron Production in Multiphoton Light-by-Light Scattering” was published in Physical Review Letters. The work was the result of a multi-institutional collaboration that made use of an LLE-developed laser source on the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) to provide the first laboratory evidence for inelastic light-by-light scattering involving only real photons.
D. L. Burke, R. C. Field, G. Horton-Smith, J. E. Spencer, D. Walz, S. C. Berridge, W. M. Bugg, K. Shmakov, A. W. Weidemann, C. Bula, K. T. McDonald, E. J. Prebys, C. Bamber, S. J. Boege, T. Koffas, T. Kotseroglou, A. C. Melissinos, D. D. Meyerhofer, D. A. Reis, and W. Ragg, “Positron Production in Multiphoton Light-by-Light Scattering,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 79 (9), 1626–1629 (1998).
