Optics Delivered to Fusion Research Lab

Researchers at Osaka University's Institute of Laser Engineering in Japan have incorporated three precision mirrors from Optical Surfaces Ltd. of Surrey, UK, into the Gekko XII laser facility. The 12-beam laser probes laser-plasma interactions and fast-ignition schemes for inertial confinement fusion.

Optical Surfaces produced the 200-mm-diameter, off-axis paraboloids from a 570-mm-diameter parent. The mirrors, which focus the incoming laser pulses onto a sample under study in the target chamber, display a uniform surface accuracy better than λ/10 and a surface roughness better than 10 Å rms, enabling Gekko to deliver 100 TW to a target in 50-fs pulses.