JDSU is supplying electro-optic modulators to the National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser system at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, located in Livermore, California.
The NIF is the world’s highest-energy laser system, consisting of 192 laser beams. The system focuses nearly two million joules of energy onto a tiny pellet filled with deuterium and tritium, creating temperatures and pressures that exist in the cores of stars and giant planets. Creating these conditions allows the NIF to conduct a wide range of experiments that have never before been possible on earth. Construction of NIF began in 1997 and was funded by the US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration for key scientific missions.
JDSU electro-optic modulators perform multiple functions within the NIF to switch and direct laser light, including fail-safe switching, complex pulse-shaping, and phase modulation, helping to prevent damage to the system.
