Novette was a two beam
neodymium
Neodymium is a chemical element with the symbol Nd and atomic number 60. It is the fourth member of the lanthanide series and is considered to be one of the rare-earth metals. It is a hard, slightly malleable, silvery metal that quickly tarnishes i ...
glass
Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...
(
phosphate glass
Phosphate glass is a class of optical glasses composed of metaphosphates of various metals. Instead of SiO2 in silicate glasses, the glass forming substrate is P2O5.
Discovery
Dr. Alexis G. Pincus of the American Optical Company supplied alum ...
) testbed
laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...
built at
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States. The lab was originally established as the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore Branch in 1952 in response ...
in about 15 months throughout 1981 and 1982 and was completed in January 1983. Novette was made using recycled parts from the dismantled
Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
and
Argus lasers and borrowed parts from the future
Nova laser
Nova was a high-power laser built at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California, United States, in 1984 which conducted advanced inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments until its dismantling in 1999. Nova was the first ...
. Its main intended purpose was to validate the proposed design and expected performance of the then planned Nova laser. In addition to being used for the further study of enhanced laser to target plasma energy coupling utilizing
frequency tripled light and examining its benefits with respect to
inertial confinement fusion
Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is a fusion energy process that initiates nuclear fusion reactions by compressing and heating targets filled with thermonuclear fuel. In modern machines, the targets are small spherical pellets about the size of ...
, Novette was also used in the world's first laboratory demonstration of an
x-ray laser
An X-ray laser is a device that uses stimulated emission to generate or amplify electromagnetic radiation in the near X-ray or extreme ultraviolet region of the spectrum, that is, usually on the order of several tens of nanometers (nm) wavelength ...
in 1984.
See also
*
List of laser articles
This is a list of laser topics.
A
* 3D printing, additive manufacturing
* Abnormal reflection
* Above-threshold ionization
* Absorption spectroscopy
* Accelerator physics
* Acoustic microscopy
* Acousto-optic deflector
* Acousto-optic modul ...
*
List of laser types
This is a list of laser types, their operational wavelengths, and their applications. Thousands of kinds of laser are known, but most of them are used only for specialized research.
Overview
Gas lasers
Chemical lasers
Used as directed-ener ...
External links
* http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/16710-UOC0xx/native/16710.pdf
* http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1985EnTR........15.
Inertial confinement fusion research lasers
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
{{tech-stub