Status Of The National Ignition Facility (NIF) Integrated Computer Control And Information Systems

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the world’s largest and most energetic laser experimental facility with 192 beams capable of delivering 1.8 megajoules of 500terawatt ultraviolet laser energy to a target. The energy, temperatures and pressures capable of being generated on the NIF allow scientists the ability to generate conditions similar to the center of the sun and explore the physics of planetary interiors, supernovae, black holes and thermonuclear burn. This year concludes a very successful multiyear plan of optimizations to the control & information systems and operational processes to increase the quantity of experimental target shots conducted in the facility. In addition, many new system control and diagnostic capabilities have been commissioned for operational use to maximize the scientific value produced. With NIF expecting to be operational for greater than 20 years focus has also been placed on optimizing the software processes to improve the sustainability of the control system. This talk will report on the current status of each of these areas in support of the wide variety of experiments being conducted in the facility.