The Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) is a scientific research facility which is part of the University of Rochester's south campus, located in Brighton, New York. The lab was established in 1970 and its operations since then have been funded jointly; mainly by the United States Department of Energy, the University of Rochester and the New York State government. The Laser Lab was commissioned to serve as a center for investigations of high-energy physics, specifically those involving the interaction of extremely intense laser radiation with matter. Many types of scientific experiments are performed at the facility with a strong emphasis on inertial confinement, direct drive, laser-induced fusion, fundamental plasma physics and astrophysics using OMEGA. In June of 1995, OMEGA became the world's highest-energy ultraviolet laser.[1] The lab shares its building with the Center for Optoelectronics and Imaging and the Center for Optics Manufacturing. The Robert L. Sproull Center for Ultra High Intensity Laser Research was opened in 2005 and houses the OMEGA EP laser, which was completed in May 2008.
The laboratory is unique in conducting big science on a university campus.[not verified in body] More than 180 Ph.D.s have been awarded for research done at the LLE.[2][3] During summer months the lab sponsors a program for high school students which involves local-area high school juniors in the research being done at the laboratory. Most of the projects are done on current research that is led by senior scientists at the lab.[4]
History
The LLE was founded on the University of Rochester's campus in 1970, by Dr. Moshe Lubin.[5][6] Working with outside companies such as Kodak the team built Delta, a four beam laser system in 1972. Construction started on the current LLE site in 1976.[5] The facility opened a six beam laser system in 1978 and followed with a 24 beam system two years later. In 2018, Donna Strickland[7] and Gérard Mourou shared a Nobel prize for work they had undertaken in 1985 while at LLE.[8] They invented a method to amplify laser pulses by "chirping" for which they would share the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics. This method disperses a short, broadband pulse of laser light into a temporally longer spectrum of wavelengths. The system amplifies the laser at each wavelength and then reconstitutes the beam into one color. Chirp pulsed amplification became instrumental in building the National Ignition Facility and the Omega EP system. In 1995, the omega laser system was increased to 60 beams, and in 2008 the Omega extended performance system was opened.
The Guardian and Scientific American provided simplified summaries of the work of Strickland and Mourou: it "paved the way for the shortest, most intense laser beams ever created". "The ultrabrief, ultrasharp beams can be used to make extremely precise cuts so their technique is now used in laser machining and enables doctors to perform millions of corrective" laser eye surgeries.[9][10]
OMEGA laser
The OMEGA laser at the LLE is one of the most powerful and highest energy lasers in the world. It is a 60-beam ultraviolet frequency-tripled neodymium glass laser, which is capable of delivering 40 kilojoules at up to 60 terawatts onto a target less than 1 millimeter in diameter.[11] Construction and commissioning of the laser were completed in 1995. OMEGA held the record for highest energy laser (per pulse) from 1999 (after the Nova laser's dismantling) to 2005, when the first 8 beams of the National Ignition Facility exceeded OMEGA's output by about 30 kJ in the ultraviolet. The maximum fusion yield of OMEGA so far is about 1014 neutrons per shot, and it once held the record for highest neutron yield of any inertial confinement fusion device.
OMEGA EP laser
The four beam OMEGA EP (extended performance) laser system was dedicated on May 16, 2008.[12] Along with four NIF-like laser beams, it hosts a new target chamber and a vacuum pulse compression chamber containing large-aperture pulse compression gratings, allowing the laser system to perform short pulse laser shots. The laser is housed inside a 2005 building addition. The combination of the OMEGA and the OMEGA EP laser systems make LLE the world's only fully integrated cryogenic fast ignition experimental facility.
Organization
Main entrance
LLE is located on and operated by the University of Rochester.[13] Omega and Omega EP are user facilities, open for use by the entire scientific community.[14]
LLE's principal sponsor is the Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) Office of Defense Programs, which supports its stockpile stewardship and advanced scientific computing programs.[14][13]
The Laboratory has a five-fold mission:[15]
To conduct implosion experiments and basic physics experiments in support of the National Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) program.
To develop new laser and materials technologies.
To provide graduate and undergraduate education in electro-optics, high-power lasers, high-energy-density physics, plasma physics, and nuclear fusion technology.
To operate the National Laser Users' Facility.
To conduct research and development in advanced technology related to high-energy-density phenomena.
See also
National Ignition Facility
GEKKO XII
Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI)
Nike laser
Laser Mégajoule
HiPER
Inertial confinement fusion
University of Rochester
Riccardo Betti
Gérard Mourou
Big Science
References
"World's Most Powerful Ultraviolet Laser Comes On-line" http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=641
"LLE Theses" http://www.lle.rochester.edu/publications/theses.php
"Theses from NLUF Research" http://www.lle.rochester.edu/publications/NLUFtheses.php
"LLE High School Students and Projects" http://www.lle.rochester.edu/publications/high_school_reports/
"Leading Lights" Features, Rochester Magazine, 2010, http://www.rochester.edu/pr/Review/V73N1/0401_feature2.html, By Scott Hauser
"History of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics" http://www.lle.rochester.edu/timeline/#1970-0
"Dr. Donna Strickland: Packing a laser punch" The University of Waterloo, Personal Profiles, accessed 1-11-2014, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-01-11. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
"Rochester breakthrough in laser science earns Nobel Prize". University of Rochester. October 2, 2018. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
"Physics Nobel prize won by Arthur Ashkin, Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland". The Guardian. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
""Optical Tweezers" and Tools Used for Laser Eye Surgery Snag Physics Nobel" . Scientific American. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
"OMEGA Laser - Laboratory for Laser Energetics" http://www.lle.rochester.edu/omega_facility/omega/
"OMEGA EP Laser Dedication" http://www.lle.rochester.edu/timeline/#2008-0
"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-05-20. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
"Maintaining the Stockpile - Department of Energy". nnsa.energy.gov.
Energetics, University of Rochester - Laboratory for Laser. "Office of the Director - Laboratory for Laser Energetics". www.lle.rochester.edu.
External links
Official website
Center for Optics Manufacturing
OMEGA
OMEGA EP
Omega Laser Facility Users' Guide This users’ guide was created to help users of the Omega Laser Facility propose and carry out experiments at the facility. It has extensive technical details on the facility.
R. Stephen Craxton
List of laser articles List of laser types List of laser applications Laser acronyms
Laser types: Solid-state
Semiconductor Dye Gas
Chemical Excimer Ion Metal Vapor
Laser physics
Active laser medium Amplified spontaneous emission Continuous wave Doppler cooling Laser ablation Laser cooling Laser linewidth Lasing threshold Magneto-optical trap Optical tweezers Population inversion Resolved sideband cooling Ultrashort pulse
Laser optics
Beam expander Beam homogenizer B Integral Chirped pulse amplification Gain-switching Gaussian beam Injection seeder Laser beam profiler M squared Mode-locking Multiple-prism grating laser oscillator Multiphoton intrapulse interference phase scan Optical amplifier Optical cavity Optical isolator Output coupler Q-switching Regenerative amplification
Laser spectroscopy
Cavity ring-down spectroscopy Confocal laser scanning microscopy Laser-based angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy Laser diffraction analysis Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy Laser-induced fluorescence Noise-immune cavity-enhanced optical heterodyne molecular spectroscopy Raman spectroscopy Second-harmonic imaging microscopy Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy Two-photon excitation microscopy Ultrafast laser spectroscopy
Laser ionization
Above-threshold ionization Atmospheric-pressure laser ionization Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization Resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization Soft laser desorption Surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization Surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization
Laser fabrication
Laser beam welding Laser bonding Laser converting Laser cutting Laser cutting bridge Laser drilling Laser engraving Laser-hybrid welding Laser peening Multiphoton lithography Pulsed laser deposition Selective laser melting Selective laser sintering
Laser medicine
Computed tomography laser mammography Laser capture microdissection Laser hair removal Laser lithotripsy Laser coagulation Laser surgery Laser thermal keratoplasty LASIK Low-level laser therapy Optical coherence tomography Photorefractive keratectomy Photorejuvenation
Laser fusion
Argus laser Cyclops laser GEKKO XII HiPER ISKRA lasers Janus laser Laboratory for Laser Energetics Laser integration line Laser Mégajoule Long path laser LULI2000 Mercury laser National Ignition Facility Nike laser Nova (laser) Novette laser Shiva laser Trident laser Vulcan laser
Civil applications
3D laser scanner CD DVD Blu-ray Laser lighting display Laser pointer Laser printer Laser tag
Military applications
Advanced Tactical Laser Boeing Laser Avenger Dazzler (weapon) Electrolaser Laser designator Laser guidance Laser-guided bomb Laser guns Laser rangefinder Laser warning receiver Laser weapon LLM01 Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System Tactical High Energy Laser Tactical light ZEUS-HLONS (HMMWV Laser Ordnance Neutralization System)
Hellenica World - Scientific Library
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