LLNL Buys More Laser Heads

Jmar Technologies Inc., a San Diego, Calif., developer of laser and high-resolution imaging and photonics technologies, announced that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has placed another order for its BriteLight laser heads for use in the National Ignition Facility (NIF), which houses the world's largest laser system -- consisting of 192 laser beams delivering 1.8 megajoules of ultraviolet light. When completed in 2009, NIF will have the ability to create immense pressures and temperatures similar to those in stars, supernovae or nuclear weapons, bringing the study of astrophysical phenomena, materials science and nuclear physics into a controlled laboratory setting. Jmar said it also sold a BriteLight laser master oscillator to the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) for the generation of laser plasma used in three-dimensional air-suspension advertisements. Delivery is scheduled for July 31. The company said it also recently developed a double-pulse version of BriteLight for the Army Research Laboratory's IED (improvised explosive device) detection program.