NIF symposium covers evolution of laser fusion

To mark the dedication of the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the Laboratory hosted a special technical symposium on Thursday, May 28, at the Robert Livermore Community Center.

The symposium, "ICF Lasers, Fusion and Other Applications — Past, Present and Future," looked at the history of lasers and inertial confinement fusion (ICF) research at Livermore and highlighted the contributions of national and international collaborators.

Following a brief welcome from Livermore Mayor Marshall Kamena, former Lab Director Bruce Tarter opened the symposium, noting that "it's been a long journey."

The first session focused on the history of the LLNL laser program as well as the ICF programs in the United States, the United Kingdom and France. John Holzrichter, a former leader in the Lab's laser program, former director of LLNL's LDRD program and currently president of the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, moderated the session.

John Emmett described the growth of Livermore's laser program. Emmett led the program from 1972 to 1989, guiding and overseeing the construction of a series of successively more powerful lasers. Emmett credited former director Roger Batzel and former associate director Carl Haussmann for seeing the need for an integrated effort. "Before I came to Livermore, the Lab's laser program was 57 Grand Duchies of Fenwick with every program having its own laser fusion effort. Carl and Roger recognized that they all needed to be pulled together into a single program."

Robert McCrory, director of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) at the University of Rochester, talked about the long-standing Livermore–Rochester collaboration. LLE operates the 60-beam OMEGA laser and collaborates extensively with Livermore and other laser programs in the U.S. and abroad. Describing himself as "an ICF enthusiast and a skeptic," McCrory declared that Livermore was "probably the only lab that could have pulled this off. It's an incredible achievement, perhaps even more complex than the Apollo program."

Daryl Landeg, head of the Plasma Physics Department at the U.K.'s Atomic Weapons Establishment, talked about his group's work. AWE operates the HELEN laser facility and is building a new facility known as ORION. AWE supported the technical case for NIF in the 1990s and has developed many of the diagnostics for NIF experiments. "High-energy-density physics and ICF is one of the most exciting and rapidly developing areas of physics," Landeg said. "The future looks very bright."

Also from the U.K., Mike Dunne, director of the Central Laser Facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, observed that the next challenge is to build on "the inspiration that is NIF. We need to keep our eye on the long-term vision — energy. And we need to draw on the capabilities of the entire global community."

Daniel Verwaerde, director of military applications for France's Atomic Energy Commission, described the Laser Megajoule (LMJ), being built near Bordeaux in southwest France and due to be completed in 2010. Noting that LMJ is essentially a twin to NIF, Verwaerde offered his thanks to "all those who have contributed to the NIF and LMJ collaboration." Verwaerde also presented Director George Miller with a small statue of the Egyptian goddess Hathor, explaining the gift with the observation that Hathor carries a sun disk on her head and the goal of NIF is to create a miniature sun in the laboratory.

Los Alamos Director Mike Anastasio offered his congratulations to LLNL and the NIF team. "It's ambitious commitment to goals like NIF and ignition that make the labs so important to the nation, and it's a real pleasure for me to have been part of this process." He too presented a gift to Miller, a glass sculpture of an eagle by renowned Native American artist Tammy Garcia, noting that in Native American lore, the eagle is the prime servant of the sun.

Following a short break, Hiroshi Azechi, director of the Institute of Laser Engineering at Osaka University, described the Japanese laser fusion program and its FIREX (Fast Ignition Realization Experiment) project. Calling NIF "one of the biggest advancements of science in this century," he urged an international effort to develop laser fusion as a viable energy source. "I believe fusion is the final solution as an energy source without producing gases that contribute to global warming."

The second session looked at NIF and its future and was moderated by Tarter. It was during his tenure as director that the Stockpile Stewardship Program was launched, with its reliance on advanced computing and simulation and state-of-the-art experimental facilities like NIF.

Vic Reis, currently a senior adviser to the Department of Energy, observed that "when it succeeds, NIF will play a major role in all of DOE's missions." Reis, who was assistant secretary for Defense Programs when the Stockpile Stewardship Program was launched, emphasized that shaping the future is the mission of the national labs. "The miraculous inventiveness of man is what NIF is all about."  

John Nuckolls, former Lab director and a pioneer in laser fusion, expressed his confidence in NIF's ability to achieve ignition. "When you look at the NIF program, you see amazing breakthroughs in every aspect of it." Looking beyond NIF, he predicted "a long history after NIF, where the lasers keep shrinking and the targets get more efficient — a system that can be continuously improved to the point that it can meet energy needs for the future. NIF has the right stuff."

The final speaker was Ed Moses, principal associate director for NIF and Photon Science. He expressed his thanks to all the people at the Laboratory and worldwide who have contributed to NIF and its success. "This community has created a new era of high-energy-density science," Moses stated. "We in the ICF community and at the Lab have a responsibility to the world to use our talents and resources to solve problems. I do believe we will be able to solve the energy problem. Energy may well be the problem of the age. And what is the solution — bringing the sun to Earth."

More than 800 people — invited guests and Laboratory employees — attended the symposium. The event also was broadcast on Lab TV and videotaped for future reference.