S-AD-M-005
Chapter 1: System Overview
January 2006—Page of 35
G6335bJ2
Figure 1.1
A simplified view of the OMEGA EP
Laser Bay showing the four beamlines,
grating compressor chamber, target area
structure, and target chamber relative to
the OMEGA Laser System.
but requires the short-pulse duration of <100 ps available on OMEGA EP. Alternative experimental
configurations producing 2
~
or 3
~
beams are available design options.
1.1..5 Indirect-Drive Experiments
OMEGA EP will have the capability of irradiating targets with beams at 48º to the target normal
even though it is not included in the baseline project. This is ideal for the irradiation of half-hohlraums
with >20 kJ of laser energy in pulses up to 10 ns. While no specific experiments are yet designed, it is
likely that this capability will be of significant interest to the national laboratories and will be developed
when the facility becomes available for target physics experiments.
1.2
System Configuration
The new laser facility is housed in a structure attached to the south side of the existing LLE
building (see Fig. 1.1). The OMEGA EP target chamber is due east of the existing OMEGA target
chamber. The most significant structural feature of the OMEGA EP Laser System is an 83-ft-wide,
263-ft-long, and one-story-high (14-ft) concrete box-beam, which serves as a rigid “optical table.” The
first and second floors of the structure serve as the optical table and are 30-in.-thick concrete slabs.
The lower floor rests on a bed of compacted gravel and is structurally independent from the laboratory
building that encloses it. This structural approach was based on the success of the original OMEGA
facility design. It provides the high degree of vibration isolation that is necessary for precision laser
operations. The area inside the box-beam on the lower level contains the Diagnostic Bays, the Sources
Bay, and two Capacitor Bays, that house the power conditioning system that powers the laser amplifiers.
The Sources and Laser Bays are climate controlled and designed to operate as Class-1000 clean rooms,
but actually perform to nearly Class-100 conditions. A Control Room on the second floor is provided to
the east of the Laser Bay with a viewing gallery at the north end of the Laser Bay.
Four laser beamlines (two short/long-pulse beams and two long-pulse beams), arranged
horizontally across the floor, are located to the south of the grating compression chamber (GCC) and the
target chamber and its supporting structure. Beams 1 and 2 may be temporally compressed to short-pulse
IR beams in the GCC and then propagated into either target chamber. Alternatively, all four beams may
be operated in long-pulse mode, frequency tripled, and directed into the OMEGA EP target chamber.
Summary of Contents for Volume VII-System Description
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