S. Burkhart, A. Awwal, M. Borden, T. Budge, J. Campbell, S. Dixit, M. Henesian , K. Jancaitis, D. Jedlovec, R. Leach, R. Lowe-Webb, B. MacGowan, S. Pratuch, J. Palma, T. Salmon, D. Smauley, L. Smith, S. Sommer, P. Wegner, K. Wilhelmsen, M. Witte, N. Wong
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the world’s most energetic laser, having demonstrated in excess of 1.9MJ @351nm with Inertial Confinement Fusion pulse-shapes in July, 2012. First commissioned with 192 operational beamlines in March, 2009, NIF has since transitioned to routine operation for stockpile stewardship, inertial confinement fusion research, and basic high energy density science.
A system of customized spatial light modulators has been installed onto the front end of the laser system at the National
Ignition Facility (NIF). The devices are capable of shaping the beam profile at a low-fluence relay plane upstream of the
amplifier chain. Their primary function is to introduce "blocker" obscurations at programmed locations within the beam
profile. These obscurations are positioned to shadow small, isolated flaws on downstream optical components that might
otherwise limit the system operating energy. The modulators were designed to enable a drop-in retrofit of each of the 48
existing Pre Amplifier Modules (PAMs) without compromising their original performance specifications. This was
accomplished by use of transmissive Optically Addressable Light Valves (OALV) based on a Bismuth Silicon Oxide
photoconductive layer in series with a twisted nematic liquid crystal (LC) layer. These Programmable Spatial Shaper
packages in combination with a flaw inspection system and optic registration strategy have provided a robust approach
for extending the operational lifetime of high fluence laser optics on NIF.
Customized spatial light modulators have been designed and fabricated for use as precision beam shaping devices in
fusion class laser systems. By inserting this device in a low-fluence relay plane upstream of the amplifier chain,
"blocker" obscurations can be programmed into the beam profile to shadow small isolated flaws on downstream optical
components that might otherwise limit the system operating energy. In this two stage system, 1920 × 1080 bitmap
images are first imprinted on incoherent, 470 nm address beams via pixelated liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS)
modulators. To realize defined masking functions with smooth apodized shapes and no pixelization artifacts, address
beam images are projected onto custom fabricated
optically-addressable light valves. Each valve consists of a large,
single pixel liquid cell in series with a photoconductive Bismuth silicon Oxide (BSO) crystal. The BSO crystal enables
bright and dark regions of the address image to locally control the voltage supplied to the liquid crystal layer which in
turn modulates the amplitude of the coherent beams at 1053 nm. Valves as large as 24 mm × 36 mm have been
fabricated with low wavefront distortion (<0.5 waves) and antireflection coatings for high transmission (>90%) and
etalon suppression to avoid spectral and temporal ripple. This device in combination with a flaw inspection system and
optic registration strategy represents a new approach for extending the operational lifetime of high fluence laser optics.
The laser damage test for qualifying a coating run of anti-reflection coated optics consists of scanning a pulsed 1064 nm laser to illuminate approximately 2400 sites over a 1 cm x 1 cm area on a test sample. Scans are repeated at 3 J/cm2 increments until the fluence specification for the optic is reached. In the past, initiation of 1 or more damage sites was classified as a failed coating run, requiring the production optics in the corresponding coating lot be reworked and recoated. Recent laser damage growth tests of 300 repetitive pulses performed on numerous damage sites revealed that all were stable up to 20 J/cm2. Therefore the acceptance criteria has been modified to allow a moderate number of damage sites, as long as they are smaller than the allowed dig size and are stable (do not grow). Consequently many coating runs that previously would have been rejected are now accepted, resulting in higher yield, lower cost, and improved delivery schedule. The new test also provides assurance that initiated damage sites are stable during long term operation.
We have developed techniques using small-beam raster scanning to laser-condition fused silica optics to increase their damage threshold. Further, we showed that CO2 lasers could be used to mitigate and stabilize damage sites while still on the order of a few tens of microns in size, thereby greatly increasing the lifetime of an optic. We recently activated the Phoenix pre-production facility to condition and mitigate optics as
large as 43 cm x 43 cm. Several full-scale optics have been processed in Phoenix. The optics were first photographed using a damage mapping system to identify scratches, digs, or other potential sites for initiation of laser damage. We then condition the optic, raster scanning with the excimer laser. The first scan is performed at a low fluence. A damage map is then acquired and any new damage sites or any sites that have grown in size are mitigated using the CO2 laser. The process is repeated at successively higher fluences until a factor of 1.7 above the nominal operating fluence is reached. After conditioning, optics were tested in a large beam 3ω laser and showed no damage at fluences of 8 J/cm2 average.
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.
Subjecting a-plane (90 degree) polished sapphire discs to a high temperature anneal resulted in a 31% improvement in the average strength, and a decrease in the strength variability. Implications on the design of sapphire pressure windows (thickness, weight, transmission) are reported.
Infrared transparent conductive diffused layers have been
integrated into germanium windows using an ion-
implantation/diffusion technique. These layers are nominally 25
microns thick with sheet resistivities of 5-10 ohms/square. The
excellent transmission characteristics of the germanium windows
are maintained, with maximum transmission degradation of only 3
and 5% in the 3-5 and 8-12 micron bandpasses, respectively.
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