NIF optical materials and fabrication technologies: an overview

John H. Campbell; Ruth A. Hawley-Fedder; Christopher J. Stolz; Joseph A. Menapace; Michael R. Borden; Pamela K. Whitman; June Yu; Michael J. Runkel; Michael O. Riley; Michael D. Feit; Richard P. Hackel

doi:10.1117/12.538471

28 May 2004 NIF optical materials and fabrication technologies: an overview

John H. Campbell, Ruth A. Hawley-Fedder, Christopher J. Stolz, Joseph A. Menapace, Michael R. Borden, Pamela K. Whitman, June Yu, Michael J. Runkel, Michael O. Riley, Michael D. Feit, Richard P. Hackel

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 5341, Optical Engineering at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory II: The National Ignition Facility; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.538471
Event: Lasers and Applications in Science and Engineering, 2004, San Jose, Ca, United States

Abstract

The high-energy/high-power section of the NIF laser system contains 7360 meter-scale optics. Advanced optical materials and fabrication technologies needed to manufacture the NIF optics have been developed and put into production at key vendor sites. Production rates are up to 20 times faster and per-optic costs 5 times lower than could be achieved prior to the NIF. In addition, the optics manufactured for NIF are better than specification giving laser performance better than the design. A suite of custom metrology tools have been designed, built and installed at the vendor sites to verify compliance with NIF optical specifications. A brief description of the NIF optical wavefront specifications for the glass and crystal optics is presented. The wavefront specifications span a continuous range of spatial scale-lengths from 10 μm to 0.5 m (full aperture). We have continued our multi-year research effort to improve the lifetime (i.e. damage resistance) of bulk optical materials, finished optical surfaces and multi-layer dielectric coatings. New methods for post-processing the completed optic to improve the damage resistance have been developed and made operational. This includes laser conditioning of coatings, glass surfaces and bulk KDP and DKDP and well as raster and full aperture defect mapping systems. Research on damage mechanisms continues to drive the development of even better optical materials.

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John H. Campbell, Ruth A. Hawley-Fedder, Christopher J. Stolz, Joseph A. Menapace, Michael R. Borden, Pamela K. Whitman, June Yu, Michael J. Runkel, Michael O. Riley, Michael D. Feit, and Richard P. Hackel "NIF optical materials and fabrication technologies: an overview", Proc. SPIE 5341, Optical Engineering at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory II: The National Ignition Facility, (28 May 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.538471

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