Some applications of lasers to experimental high-energy density physics at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Abstract

Advances in laser technology have made possible the construction of the National ignition Facility for inertial fusion ignition and energy gain in the laboratory, for understanding the properties of matter in extreme conditions of gigabar pressures, densities many times solid density, and at relativistically hot temperatures T e≫ m e c 2. These advances have spawned many valuable applications in coherent light sources, micro-impulse radar, EUV lithography, medical imaging, and laboratory astrophysics.