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.