The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a stadium-sized facility containing a 192-beam, 1.8-Megajoule, 500-Terawatt, ultraviolet laser system together with a 10-meter diameter target chamber with room for nearly 100 experimental diagnostics. Each beam line requires three different large-aperture optics made from single crystal potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP). KDP is used in the plasma electrode pockels cell (PEPC) and frequency doubling crystals, while deuterated KDP (DKDP) crystals are used for frequency tripling. Methods for reproducible growth of single crystals of KDP that meet all material requirements have been developed that enable us to meet the optics demands of the NIF. Once material properties are met, fabrication of high aspect ratio single crystal optics (42 × 42 × 1 cm) to meet laser performance specifications is the next challenge. More than 20% of the required final crystal optics have been fabricated and meet the stringent requirements of the NIF system. This manuscript summarizes the challenges and successes in the production of these large single-crystal optics.

Date Published: 28 May 2004
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 5341, Optical Engineering at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory II: The National Ignition Facility, (28 May 2004); doi: 10.1117/12.538482

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5341:
Optical Engineering at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory II: The National Ignition Facility
Monya A. Lane; Craig R. Wuest, Editor(s)