Laser fusion

In an attempt to develop the hydrogen bomb before the Russians, a second weapons laboratory , Lawrence Livermore, was established in July 1952 to handle the additional work that would be necessaiy to stay ahead of the Russian nuclear weapons program. The administrator chosen was the University of California. Eor the next forty-five years, this LLNL was a formidable competitor to Los Alamos in the development of nuclear weapons. But much like most of the other major national laboratories, its focus also shifted away from nuclear weapons to basic science to fields like magnetic and laser fusion energy, non-nuclear energy, biomedicine, and environmental science. By the late 1990s, half of the laboratoi y s budget was nonde-fense related as the shift away from nuclear weapons continued. 

Laser fusion, (a) A mixture of deuterium and tritium is sealed inside tire tiny capsule (1 mm in diameter] at the tip of the laser target. 

Lanthanides Elements 57 (La) through 70 (Yb) in the periodic table, 146 Lanthanum, 147 Laser fusion, 528 Lattices in ionic crystals, 249 Lavoisier, Antoine, 14 Law of conservation of energy A natural law stating that energy can neither be created nor destroyed it can only be converted from one form to another, 214... 

With spherical segments, optical figuring and testing is a proven and reliable process, well suited for mass-production. Serial production of diffraction-limited, large optics is already under way for laser fusion projects, with European suppliers increasing their capacity to approximately 1,000 m2 per year Aspherical segments would certainly be feasible as well, but the inherent risk and potentially lower quality need to be properly evaluated. In figuring optical... 

H. Motz, The Physics of Laser Fusion, Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1969. 

As pointed out by Swisher and Prothero (1990) relatively recent advances (1989-1990) in mass spectrometric techniques and the development of laser-fusion 40Ar/39Ar dating techniques have resulted in the ability to date individual volcanic crystals, Multiple analysis and the ability to date single crystals allow the identification of multiplc-agc components due to detrital contamination, and thus permit improved precision and accuracy. To date, studies have been directed to North American chronology, notably minerals (biotite, anor, plag) found in Nebraska and Wyoming. 

Ress, D. et al. Neutron Imaging of Laser Fusion Targets." St ienee. 956 (August... 

At laser irradiances of typically about 10 Wcm and above, dense plasmas are formed from any solid sample, as is well documented by the large number of laser fusion experiments. In this mode of operation, energy is deposited into the solid during the initial... 

The average intensity of sunlight hitting the surface in the continental U.S. at noon is about 200 W/m2. A typical laser pointer produces 5 mW in a 1 mm2 spot, so the intensity is about 5000 W/m2. At the opposite extreme, commercially available ultrafast laser systems can readily produce 100 mJ pulses with 100 fs duration (1012 W peak power). This peak power is roughly equal to the worldwide electrical generation capacity. Such pulses can be focused to about 10 1° m2 (1022 W/m2) still higher peak powers are created for specialized applications, such as laser fusion. 

Figure 1. A nonrelativistic window of the temperature—composition plane, showing electron density (n) and temperature (T). Normal conditions (on earth) for semiconductors and elemental metals and conditions on the Sun, Jupiter, and the White Dwarf are shown. Experimental methods in A, B, C, and D are Tokamak, glow-discharge, laser fusion, and degenerate strongly coupled plasma, respectively. Wigner—Seitz radii, rs, are also shown (adapted from Redmei4).

McGrath, R. T, "Laser Fusion Driven Breeder Design Study -Final Report" U.Si JXlE Contract DE-AC08-79DP40-11 TRW, Inc. Redondo Beach, CA, 1980. 

T. C., and Dungan M. A. (1998) Inherited argon in a Pleistocene andesite lava " Ar/ Ar incremental-heating and laser-fusion analyses of plagioclase. Geology 26, 427-430. 

Plasma Polymerization Coating of DT-Filled Glass Shells for Laser Fusion Targets... 

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