Quick Shot
View OMEGA from the Visitors Gallery
January 30, 2012
A view of the OMEGA Target Bay displays many uncommon, mystifying, and sometimes moving objects. As shown, the crane is being used to carry a large, torpedo-shaped instrument to the OMEGA target chamber. Although high-speed cameras look similar, the parabola alignment diagnostic (PAD), carefully handled by Harold Beck, is used to align and optimize the short-pulse optics. Built in-house, the PAD provides submicron measurements with an internal pointing camera and wavefront sensor.