Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is home to the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world’s largest and most energetic laser system— and the only lab on earth where fusion ignition has been achieved and repeated. The latest episode of the Big Ideas podcast tackles the work necessary to keep such a facility running. Listen on Apple or Spotify. NIF was…
By combining the National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser and ultra-light metal foams, researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have produced the brightest X-ray source to date — about twice as bright as previous solid metal versions. These ultra-bright high-energy X-rays can be used to image and study extremely dense matter, like the plasmas created…
The Biden-Harris Administration has recognized former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) director John H. Nuckolls with the Enrico Fermi Award, one of the oldest and most prestigious science and technology honors bestowed by the U.S. government. The award will be shared with two other scientists, Héctor D. Abruña and Paul Alivisatos. Nuckols was selected “for…
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) leadership is engaging with world leaders to make fusion energy a reality. Last week, LLNL Director Kim Budil joined the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) inaugural meeting of leading fusion energy experts and high-level policymakers from 35 countries in Rome. “In the face of growing global competition and a…
When Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) achieved fusion ignition at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in December 2022, the world’s attention turned to the prospect of how that breakthrough experiment — designed to secure the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile — might also pave the way for virtually limitless, safe and carbon-free fusion energy. Advanced 3D…
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists Daniel Casey, Daniel Clark and Raymond Smith have been named 2024 American Physical Society (APS) Fellows. Casey was selected for “outstanding contributions to the understanding of the stagnation conditions required to achieve ignition.” Clark was honored for “extensive contributions to inertial confinement fusion…
Brianna Barbee is taking a childhood lesson from her mother to heart — and it figured into her summer internship at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). “My mom always told me, ‘You don’t want to live paycheck to paycheck’ and I really stand by that,” she said. “I was always very studious, but I knew I needed to find a career and not just a 9-to-5 job to pay for…
Annie Kritcher, design physicist and lead for integrated modeling in the Inertial Confinement Fusion program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), has been awarded the 2024 David J. Rose Excellence in Fusion Engineering Award by Fusion Power Associates (FPA). Presented annually since 1987 in memory of MIT Professor David J. Rose, the award honors early-career…
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has big ideas and is showing the world in the Big Ideas Lab weekly podcast that takes listeners behind the fences and into its heart. “This is where big ideas come to life,” said Lab Director Kim Budil. “To do this, we bring together dynamic teams of many different disciplines — laser physicists and materials scientists and…
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) Zhi Liao has been elected as a senior member of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. SPIE bestows the senior member designation on individuals who have distinguished themselves through their professional experience and their active involvement within both the optics community and SPIE. Liao is one of 107…
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers Paul Armstrong and Brent Stuart have been named senior members of Optica. The professional society’s senior membership status recognizes members with more than 10 years of professional experience in optics or an optics-related field. The 2024 class joins a distinguished group of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs…
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have retrospectively confirmed that implosion asymmetry was a major aspect for fusion experiments before achieving ignition for the first time at the Lab’s National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world’s most energetic laser. The findings were recently detailed in a Nature Communications paper titled “The impact of…
Bruno Van Wonterghem, operations manager at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL) National Ignition Facility (NIF), was awarded a 2024 Distinguished Career Award by Fusion Power Associates (FPA). FPA board of directors recognized Van Wonterghem “for his decades of tenacious dedication to scientific and operational excellence in bringing both the LLNL Beamlet and…
What would you do with the largest laser in the world? That’s the question Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) physicist Tammy Ma posed to the audience on the mainstage at the influential TED conference held in April in Vancouver. In the talk, which was publicly released today, Ma shared her answer: bringing about a world powered by laser-based fusion energy,…
A team of researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has made advancements in understanding and resolving the long-standing "drive-deficit" problem in indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments. This discovery could pave the way for more accurate predictions and improved performance in fusion experiments at the National Ignition Facility…
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) physicists Hye-Sook Park and George Swadling, along with Anna Grassi of France’s Sorbonne University and former Lawrence Fellow Frederico Fiuza of Portugal’s Técnico Lisboa, received the 2024 Lev D. Landau and Lyman Spitzer Jr. Award for Outstanding Contributions to Plasma Physics. The award is jointly sponsored by the Plasma…
Visitors to City Center Bishop Ranch in San Ramon can now learn about LLNL’s historic fusion ignition achievement while they shop and dine. “Bringing Star Power to Earth,” a new art installation on the exterior of the center, tells the story of ignition through nine banners measuring 23 feet tall. The centerpiece is the ignition artwork that LLNL used in the first…
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have reported advancements in understanding plasma pressure profiles within flow-stabilized Z-pinch fusion, a candidate for achieving net gain fusion energy in a compact device. In collaboration with the University of California San Diego (UCSD), the University of Washington, Sandia National Laboratories and…
For two weeks last April, the lasers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility stopped firing. Experiments may have been on pause, but the facility was anything but quiet. “To do world-class science, you need a world-class facility. And you can’t just maintain that facility, you must anticipate problems and seek out improvements,” said Stanley…
Nearly 150 members of the signal and image science community recently came together to discuss the latest advances in the field and connect with colleagues, friends and potential collaborators at the 28th annual Center for Advanced Image and Signal Science (CASIS) workshop. Held at the University of California Livermore Collaboration Center (UCLCC) for the first time, the…