LLNL researchers have developed additive manufactured fuel targets for IFE. They have been successful in using TPL to fabricate low density (down to 60 mg/cm3) and low atomic number (CHO) polymeric foams for potential targets, and some have been tested at the OMEGA Laser Facility. With TPL, LLNL researchers have also been able to fabricate a full fuel capsule with diameter of ~ 5mm or…
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Powder atomic layer deposition process is used to coat nanopowders of host materials (e.g. yttrium aluminum garnet) with optically active neodymium organometal precursor followed by O2/O3 RF plasma to convert to a single layer of Nd2O3. The process can be repeated to build arbitrarily thick layers with custom doping profiles and followed by post-…
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This invention works by imaging an ultrafast pulse diffracted from a large grating onto a spatial light modulator (SLM) thereby directly transcribing an arbitrary record on a pulse front tilted (PFT) ultrafast pulse. The grating generates PFT of the input pulse, and the SLM provides temporal control of the pulse through the space-to-time mapping of the tilted pulse. Coupling this patterned…
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This invention exploits the non-linearities of optical Mach-Zehnder (MZ) electrooptic modulators to enhance small signal dynamic range at higher bandwidths. A linear photodiode (PD) converts the amplified optical signal output from the MZ back to an electrical signal completing an Electrical-Optical-Electrical (EOE) conversion cycle. The dynamic range can be further enhanced by daisy chaining…
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This invention proposes using a pulse laser configured to generate laser pulses and a controller for controlling operation of the pulse laser. The controller is further configured to control the pulse laser to cause the pulse laser to generate at least one of the laser pulses with a spatiotemporally varying laser fluence over a duration of at least one of the laser pulses. The spatiotemporally…
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This invention configures multiple spherical substrate targets to roll independently of one another. The spheres’ rolling motion is deliberately randomized to promote uniform coating while eliminating the interaction (rubbing, sliding) of adjacent spheres that is present in conventional sphere coating designs. The devices’ novel structure features enable the collimation of depositing…
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LLNL researchers in the NIF Directorate DoD Technologies RF Photonics Group explored phase modulation solutions to this signal processing challenge. Optical frequency combs offer phase noise characteristics that are orders of magnitude lower than available from commercial microwave references. The Photonics Group researchers recognized that by converting the intensity information into phase,…
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Livermore Lab researchers have developed two new methods for improving the efficiency of laser drilling. The first method is based on multi-pulse laser technology. Two synchronized free-running laser pulses from a tandem-head Nd:YAG laser and a gated CW laser are capable of drilling through 1/8-in-thick stainless-steel targets at a standoff distance of 1 m without gas-assist. The combination of a…
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The new LLNL technique works by transiently removing and trapping concrete or rock surface material, so that contaminants are confined in a manner that is easy to isolate and remove. Our studies suggest that 10 m2 of surface could be processed per hour. The technique easily scales to more surface/hr.