The Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) is a scientific research facility which is part of the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

's south campus, located in Brighton, New York. The lab was established in 1970 with operations jointly funded by the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...

, the University of Rochester and the

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government. The Laser Lab was commissioned to investigate high-energy physics involving the interaction of extremely intense

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'' consisting of photons, such as radio waves, microwaves, infr ...

with matter. Scientific experiments at the facility emphasize inertial confinement, direct drive, laser-induced fusion, fundamental

plasma physics Plasma () is a state of matter characterized by the presence of a significant portion of charged particles in any combination of ions or electrons. It is the most abundant form of ordinary matter in the universe, mostly in stars (including th ...

and

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

using the OMEGA Laser Facility. In June 1995, OMEGA became the world's highest-energy

ultraviolet Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of ...

laser."World's Most Powerful Ultraviolet Laser Comes On-line" http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=641 The lab shares its building with the Center for Optoelectronics and Imaging and the Center for Optics Manufacturing. The Robert L. Sproull Center for Ultra High Intensity Laser Research was opened in 2005 and houses the OMEGA EP laser, which was completed in May 2008. More than 270 Ph.D.s have been awarded for research conducted at the LLE. During summer months the lab sponsors local-area high school juniors in research at the laboratory, with most of their projects led by senior scientists at the lab.

History

The LLE was founded on the

's campus in 1970, by Dr. Moshe Lubin."Leading Lights" Features, Rochester Magazine, 2010, http://www.rochester.edu/pr/Review/V73N1/0401_feature2.html, By Scott Hauser Working with outside companies such as

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

the team built Delta, a four beam laser system in 1972. Construction started on the current LLE site in 1976. The facility opened a six beam laser system in 1978 and followed with a 24 beam system two years later. In 2018, Donna Strickland and Gérard Mourou shared a Nobel prize for work they had undertaken in 1985 while at LLE. They invented a method to amplify laser pulses by "chirping" for which they would share the 2018

Nobel Prize in Physics The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...

. This method disperses a short, broadband pulse of laser light into a temporally longer spectrum of wavelengths. The system amplifies the laser at each wavelength and then reconstitutes the beam into one color. Chirp pulsed amplification became instrumental in building the

National Ignition Facility The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a laser-based inertial confinement fusion (ICF) research device, located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, United States. NIF's mission is to achieve fusion ignition wit ...

and the OMEGA EP system. In 1995, the OMEGA Laser system was increased to 60 beams, and in 2008 the OMEGA Extended Performance (OMEGA EP) system was opened. ''

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'' and

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provided simplified summaries of the work of Strickland and Mourou: it "paved the way for the shortest, most intense laser beams ever created". "The ultrabrief, ultrasharp beams can be used to make extremely precise cuts so their technique is now used in laser machining and enables doctors to perform millions of corrective" laser eye surgeries.

OMEGA laser

The OMEGA laser is a laser device at the LLE built to perform direct-drive

inertial confinement fusion Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is a fusion energy process that initiates nuclear fusion reactions by compressing and heating targets filled with fuel. The targets are small pellets, typically containing deuterium (2H) and tritium (3H). Typical ...

experiments. It is a 60-beam ultraviolet frequency-tripled neodymium glass laser, which is capable of delivering 40

kilojoule The joule ( , or ; symbol: J) is the unit of energy in the International System of Units (SI). In terms of SI base units, one joule corresponds to one kilogram- metre squared per second squared One joule is equal to the amount of work don ...

s at up to 60 terawatts, making it one of the most powerful and highest energy lasers in the world. The laser light can be focused onto a spherical target less than 1 millimeter in diameter suspended in a spherical vacuum chamber 3.3 meters in diameter. Initial construction and commissioning of the laser were completed in 1980 under a 21 million USD contract between the University of Rochester and the US Department of Energy. At the time, it was a 24-beam 15 terawatt system. It was upgraded between 1990 and 1995 for 61 million USD into the 60-beam system that exists today. OMEGA held the record for highest energy laser (per pulse) from 1999 (after the Nova laser's dismantling) to 2005, when the first 8 beams of the

exceeded OMEGA's output by about 30 kJ in the ultraviolet. OMEGA is used for direct-drive inertial confinement fusion experiments, in which the lasers compress a target filled with fusion fuel, forming a dense hot region at the center in which

nuclear fusion Nuclear fusion is a nuclear reaction, reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei combine to form a larger nuclei, nuclei/neutrons, neutron by-products. The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifested as either the rele ...

reactions occur. OMEGA once held the record for highest neutron yield of any inertial confinement fusion device. It has demonstrated yields of over 5×10¹³ reactions per implosion, with internal pressures of over 50 gigabars.

OMEGA EP laser

The OMEGA EP (extended performance) laser system is an independently operable laser device and extension to OMEGA dedicated on May 16, 2008 with the purpose of studying advanced ignition techniques."OMEGA EP Laser Dedication" https://www.lle.rochester.edu/media/about/timeline/25_Timeline_2008_09.pdf It hosts four NIF-like laser beams, each capable of delivering up to 1.6 kilojoules of energy, as well as a new target chamber. Two of the beams possess pulse compression gratings allowing for pulses as short as 1 picosecond. The laser is housed inside a 2005 building addition. While OMEGA EP normally operates separately from OMEGA, its two short-pulse beams can also be combined and directed into the OMEGA target chamber, in addition to OMEGA's 60 existing beams. The high power of these beams combined with their ability to be independently timed enables integrated fast-ignition experiments, in which the OMEGA laser compresses a spherical target full of fusion fuel and then OMEGA EP drives a beam of electrons into its center, kick-starting thermonuclear burn. The combination of the OMEGA and the OMEGA EP laser systems makes LLE the world's only fully integrated cryogenic fast ignition experimental facility.

Organization

UR Laboratory for Laser Energetics main entrance

LLE is located at, and operated by the

. OMEGA and OMEGA EP are user facilities, open for use by the entire

scientific community The scientific community is a diverse network of interacting scientists. It includes many "working group, sub-communities" working on particular scientific fields, and within particular institutions; interdisciplinary and cross-institutional acti ...

. LLE's principal sponsor is the Department of Energy/

National Nuclear Security Administration The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is a United States federal agency responsible for safeguarding national security through the military application of nuclear science. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, and ef ...

(DOE/NNSA
Office of Defense Programs
, which supports its

stockpile stewardship Stockpile stewardship refers to the United States program of reliability testing, viability, and the maintenance of its nuclear weapons without the use of nuclear testing. Because no new nuclear weapons have been developed by the United States si ...

and advanced scientific computing programs. The Laboratory has a five-fold mission: * To conduct implosion experiments and basic physics experiments in support of the National Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) program. * To develop new laser and materials technologies. * To provide graduate and undergraduate education in electro-optics, high-power lasers, high-energy-density physics, plasma physics, and nuclear fusion technology. * To operate the National Laser Users' Facility. * To conduct research and development in advanced technology related to high-energy-density phenomena.

References

External links