Laser fusion programs

In December 1975, the DOE s Lawrence Livermore Laboratory conducted a two-day symposium to launch a formal effort in laser technology commercialization. The purpose was to consolidate information and to transfer practical technology to industry from the Lab s laser fusion program. The technologies included optical... 

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. 

Although practical generation of energy by laser-assisted thermonuclear fusion remains well ia the future, the program has provided some of the most exacting requirements for laser technology and has led to advances ia laser equipment that have been adopted ia other areas. Thus the research and development associated with thermonuclear fusion work has helped to spur advances ia laser technology useful for many other appHcations. 

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