The Evolution of Laser Technology & Its Relevance to Our
National Energy Security

May 22, 2013
ME Auditorium
1200

Dr. Edward Moses

Principal Associate Director
National Ignition Facility & Photon Sciences
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Abstract

Ignition experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) are now bringing that long-sought goal much closer to realization. NIF's 192 giant lasers, housed in a ten-story building the size of three football fields, will deliver at least 60 times more energy than any previous laser system. NIF will focus more than one million joules of ultraviolet laser energy on a tiny target in the center of its target chamber-creating conditions similar to those that exist only in the cores of stars and giant planets and inside a nuclear weapon. The resulting fusion reaction will release many times more energy than the laser energy required to initiate the reaction. Experiments conducted on NIF will make significant contributions to national and global security, could lead to practical fusion energy, and will help the nation maintain its leadership in basic science and technology.

Biography

The speaker, Dr. Edward Moses, is the Principal Associate Director for the NIF & Photon Science Directorate, and was responsible for completing construction and bringing into full operation the world's largest optical instrument for achieving ignition in the laboratory and for studying inertial fusion energy. He has been instrumental in sustaining the program's current strong performance. Dr. Moses joined Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in 1980, becoming program leader for isotope separation and material processing and deputy AD for Lasers. He has won numerous awards, including the 2003 NNSA Award of Excellence for Significant Contribution to Stockpile Stewardship, the 2004 DOE Award of Excellence for the first joint LLNL/Los Alamos National Laboratory experiments on NIF, and the D.S. Rozhdestvensky Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Lasers and Optical Sciences. He holds seven patents in laser technology and computational physics. Dr. Moses received his B.S. and Ph.D. from Cornell University in New York.

POC

Dr. Daniel A. Nussbaum
Naval Postgraduate School 
Principal, Energy Academic Group
Monterey CA 93943
Phone: 831-656-2387
Mobile: 831-324-3228
Email: dnussbaum@nps.edu