Status of the National Ignition Facility project

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) Project being constructed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will use advanced Nd-glass laser technology to deliver 1.8 MJ of 0.35-micrometers laser light in a shaped pulse, several nanoseconds in duration, achieving a peak power of 500 TW. A national community of U.S. laboratories is participating in this project, now in its final design phase. France and the US have collaborated on numerous technology developments for NIF and the French Megajoule Laser Project (LMJ). Separate and more limited collaborations between the US and UK have taken place under agreements predating NIF and LMJ. This paper presents the status of the laser design and development of its principal components and optical elements.