The TRIDENT laser at LANL: New "dial-a-contrast" and high-contrast experimental capabilities

Abstract

The Trident laser facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has served for more than 20 years as an important tool in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and Material Dynamics research. An energy and power upgrade of the short-pulse beam line to 100J / 200 TW was made in 2007 and contrast improvements have been made continually since. The combination of this powerful new short-pulse beamline with the two flexible long pulse beamlines, and a total of three different target areas, makes Trident a highly flexible and versatile research tool for high energy density laboratory plasma (HEDLP) research. The newest "Dial-a-Contrast" (DaC) features are described, along with nominal performance of the laser at the presently available highest contrast. © Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2013.