Nova Laser Target Chamber
Maintenance on the Nova target chamber. The various devices all point towards the center of the chamber where the targets are placed during experimental runs. The targets are held in place on the end of the white-colored "needle" at the end of the arm running vertically down into the chamber. Nova was a high-power laser built at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in 1984 which conducted advanced inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments until its dismantling in 1999. Nova was the first ICF experiment built with the intention of reaching ignition, a chain reaction of nuclear fusion that releases a large amount of energy. Although Nova failed in this goal, the data it generated defined the problem as being mostly a result of magnetohydrodynamic instability, leading to the design of the National Ignition Facility, Nova's successor. Nova also generated considerable amounts of data on high-density matter physics, regardless of the lack of ignition, which is useful both in fusion power and nuclear weapons research.
Size: 3750px × 3300px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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