The NIF Ignition Program: progress and planning

The first experimental campaign for ignition, beginning in 2010 after NIF construction and commissioning are completed, will include experiments to measure and optimize key laser and target conditions necessary for ignition. These 'tuning campaigns' will precede the first ignition shots. Ignition requires acceptable target performance in several key areas: energetics, symmetry, shock timing and capsule hydrodynamics. Detailed planning and simulations for 'tuning campaigns' in each of these areas is currently underway, as part of the National Ignition Campaign (NIC) Program. Tuning and diagnostic methods are being developed and tested on present facilities, including the OMEGA laser at the Laboratory for Energetics (LLE), the Z facility at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and the Trident laser at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Target fabrication development is underway at General Atomics (GA), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and LANL.