Developing Enabling Optics Finishing Technologies For The National Ignition Facility PDF Download

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is in the process of constructing the National Ignition Facility, a half million square foot facility which will house a 192 beam laser system capable of generating the 2 million joules of ultraviolet light energy necessary to achieve fusion ignition with inertial targets by 2004. More than 7,000 meter class optics will need to be manufactured by LLNL's industrial partners to construct the laser system. The components will be manufactured starting in 1998 and will be finished by 2003. In 1994 it became clear through a series of funded cost studies that, in order to fabricate such an unprecedented number of large precision optics in so short a time for the lowest possible cost, new technologies would need to be developed and new factories constructed based on those technologies. At that time, LLNL embarked on an ambitious optics finishing technology development program costing more than $6M over 3 years to develop these technologies, working with three suppliers of large precision optics. While each development program centered upon the specialties and often proprietary technologies already existing in the suppliers facility, many of the technologies required for manufacturing large precision optics at the lowest cost possible are common to two and in some cases all three efforts. Since many of the developments achieved during this program stemmed from intellectual property and trade secrets at the vendors, the program cannot be described completely in a public forum. Nevertheless, many non-proprietary advances were made during this program which the vendors are willing to share with the greater community. This presentation will describe the manufacturing process in a general sense which is used by all three of the companies under contract; Zygo Corporation, Tinsley Laboratories, and Eastman Kodak. In each of the principle process steps of shaping, grinding, polishing, figuring, and metrology, development highlights will be discussed.