Since 2001, Adaptive Optics Associates (AOA), a subsidiary of optical solutions and image processing software provider Metrologic Instruments Inc., has been working with LLNL to provide precision optomechanical assemblies in support of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) project. Previous purchase orders totalling $13 million included multiyear production contracts for output and input sensor packages, including diagnostics for NIF's main laser power, energy and wavefront quality and light source launchers. The additional $6.8 million is for delivery of 16 input sensor packages, 196 light source launchers and 18 output sensor packages. Most of the items are to be delivered by the end of 2006, with some slated for the first quarter of 2007. Additional subcontracts which may be awarded through the third quarter of 2007 could push the contract's overall value to $17.3 million.
NIF's lasers can also be used to compress and heat BB-sized capsules of hydrogen fusion fuel that will create thermonuclear ignition and energy gain, an important step on the path towards limitless energy production. NIF is the world's most energetic laser and has already delivered record-setting energies in the infrared, green and ultraviolet laser beams. When NIF is completed, it is expected to be able to create, for a billionth of a second, nearly 1000 times the electric generating power of the entire US.
Built to support the nation's Stockpile Stewardship Program, the facility will also aid basic science and fusion energy research. When completed in 2008, NIF will have over 33,000 sq. ft. of precision optics with more than 26,000 small optics components. Under the management of the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration and the University of California, the project is a collaboration of government agencies, national laboratories, universities and industrial partners. For more information, visit: www.llnl.gov/nif