Laser facilities
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High power laser facilities offer a relatively simple way of creating, in the laboratory, the conditions needed to conduct research into high energy density physics phenomena. AWE has hosted a succession of such lasers and the latest, Orion, is currently under construction at AWE Aldermaston.
Orion – The Future
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Orion will have 10 'long-pulse' (ns) beam-lines, each producing 500J at 351nm (3w) and two powerful chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) arms, producing ~500J in ~0.5ps (1w).
It will be maintained under 'operating theatre' conditions, housed in a huge clean-room within a specially designed building which will isolate it from the effects of vibration and contamination.
Orion will be approximately 100 metres long, 60 metres wide, and 25 metres high. High-tech laser components and systems at the very edge of current technological limits, including CPA, adaptive optics (AO) and metre-diameter gold-coated diffraction gratings, will be incorporated in the laser.
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Orion will support AWE’s science mission of maintaining confidence in the safety and operability of the stockpile in the present era, which follows the ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
It will be capable of creating conditions in the laboratory which replicate those which occur in an operating nuclear warhead. This will enable materials properties to be measured in a regime of high applicability to the weapon. It will also help to bridge between interpretative and predictive computer codes by providing experimental data for benchmarking
Another key aspect of Orion's mission will be the provision of beam-time to the academic community. There is a significant overlap between the physical processes that occur in an exploding warhead and objects of more general scientific interest such as evolving stars, super-dense matter and high-temperature systems. Orion is designed to be configured to support an even wider field of scientific exploration including particle acceleration, X-ray laser research and the production of short-lived isotopes.
Academic access to Orion
Access to leading-edge laser facilities plays an important part in helping universities to attract the highest calibre researchers and scientists to the subject of Plasma Physics. It is from this pool of expertise that many future AWE scientists will be recruited and the vitality of the subject is very important to the sustainability of AWE's technical programmes. It is planned that up to 15% of beam-time will be used for collaborative experiments with our university partners.