October 09 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine

Spotlight

Looking in on Trident

Photo by Robb Kramer

The Laboratory’s Trident Laser Facility at Technical Area 35 is an extremely versatile neodymium glass laser system dedicated to high energy density physics research and fundamental laser-matter interactions. The Trident laser system consists of three high-energy beams that can be delivered into two independent target experimental areas. The target areas are equipped with an extensive suite of diagnostics for research in ultra-intense laser-matter interactions, dynamic material properties, and laser-plasma instabilities. The photo shows the inside of the 5-foot diameter vacuum chamber in the north target area of the Trident facility, as seen through a 16-inch port with the vacuum flange removed. Several diagnostics and low-power alignment lasers are visible pointing toward a target at the center of the chamber. The target and diagnostics are being prepared for a relativistic laser-matter interaction experiment using the Trident 200-terawatt laser beam. After the vacuum chamber is closed and evacuated, the target and the laser receive a final alignment. It takes nearly an hour to prepare for an experiment that will last only 500 femtoseconds, which is less time than it will take for light to travel the distance of the period at the end of this sentence.

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• Spotlight: Looking in on Trident