Rochester and Naval Research Lab Start Running New Laser Fusion Facilities for Direct‐Drive Experiments

Two new facilities for inertial confinement fusion have recently started operation. The University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics is now running Omega Upgrade at energies as high as 45 kilojoules (at greater than 60 terawatts), at a wavelength of 351 nanometers, making it the most powerful ultraviolet laser facility in the world. (Typical operation will be at 40 kJ in 1‐nano‐second pulses). Omega Upgrade is a frequency‐tripled neodymiumglass solid‐state laser, as is Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Nova, which has produced as much as 45 kJ in a 2.5‐ns pulse at 351 nm. (Nova typically operates at 30‐35 kJ in 1‐ns pulses). The second ICF facility to recently start running is the Naval Research Laboratory's Nike, a KrF gas laser that produces energies at the target of 3 kJ at 248 nm.