Crystal growth is a crucial issue for fundamental science and wide applications. The growth morphology and speed are generally determined by an interplay between macroscopic thermodynamic driving forces and the microscopic kinetic process at crystal-liquid interface. While crystal growth is well...
Gold, silver and copper are heavy metals, but LLNL scientists can now make them nearly as light as air — in a form so tiny it can ride on a mosquito’s back. The groundbreaking science, part of a joint NIF/Physical and Life Sciences (PLS) project supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and...
The first proton-acceleration experiments using the National Ignition Facility ’s (NIF) Advanced Radiographic Capability ( ARC ) short-pulse laser have produced protons with energies about 10 times higher than previous experience would have predicted (see “ A Powerful New Source of High-Energy...
Scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ( LLNL ) used giant lasers to flash-freeze water into its exotic superionic phase and record X-ray diffraction patterns to identify its atomic structure for the very first time — all in just a few billionths of a second. The findings are...
A joint Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ( LLNL )/ Sandia National Laboratories team has commissioned a Line Velocity Interferometer System for Any Reflector (Line VISAR) at Sandia’s Z Machine. Line VISAR is used to measure the velocities of shocks and surface motions when enormous pressures...
Physicists designing new laser systems and modeling laser performance at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ( LLNL ) now have a powerful new tool in their hands with the Rigel release of Virtual Beam Line++ (VBL++). The current version of VBL, a java-based code, has been in use since 2000. VBL...
Using ultrashort laser pulses lasting a few picoseconds (trillionths of a second), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ( LLNL ) researchers have discovered an efficient mechanism for laser ablation (material removal) that could help pave the way to the use of lower-energy, less costly lasers in...
The Laser Institute of America ( LIA ) has recognized Jamie King, certified laser safety officer (CLSO) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ( LLNL) , with the R. James Rockwell Jr. Educational Achievement Award. The award was presented at the recent International Laser Safety Conference (ILSC...
A Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ( LLNL ) team of physicists and target engineers has reached an important goal with a new technique for electroplating copper and gold to create tiny, smoothly spherical inertial confinement fusion ( ICF ) target shells. The target designers engineered a...
The annual National Ignition Facility (NIF) and Jupiter Laser Facility (JLF) User Group meeting brought together more than 180 researchers to learn about the capabilities, recent experiments and new experimental platforms of both Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ( LLNL ) facilities. The...
