A pulse stretcher has been designed for the LLNL sodium guide star experiment to lower the laser flux and avoid saturation effects. The optical design, mechanical layout and wavefront error analysis are presented.

A model for transient infiltration into a periodically fractured porous layer is presented. The fracture is treated as a permeable-walled slot and the moisture distribution is in the form of a slug being an advancing meniscus. The wicking of moisture from the fracture to the unsaturated porous matrix is a nonlinear diffusion process and is approximately by self-similar solutions. The resulting model is a nonlinear Volterra integral equation with a weakly singular kernel. Numerical analysis provides solutions over a wide range of the parameter space and reveals the asymptotic forms of the penetration of this slug in terms of dimensionless variables arising in the model. The numerical solutions corroborate asymptotic results given earlier by Nitao and Buscheck (1991), and by Martinez (1988). Some implications for the transport of liquid in fractured rock are discussed.

The physics of fast ignition is being studied using a petawatt laser facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Performance of the PW laser with deformable mirror wavefront control giving intensities up to 3x10{sup 20} Wcm{sup {minus}2} is described. Measurements of the efficiency of conversion of laser energy to relativistic electrons and of their energy spectrum and angular distribution including an observed narrow beam angle of {+-}15{degree}, are reported. Heating by the electrons to near 1keV in solid density CD{sub 2} is inferred from the thermo-nuclear neutron yield. Estimates suggest an optimized gain of 300x if the National Ignition Facility were to be adapted for fast ignition.

Supernova (SN) 1987A focused attention on the critical role of hydrodynamic instabilities in the evolution of supernovae. To test the modeling of these instabilities, they are attempting to rigorously scale the physics of the laboratory in supernova. The scaling of hydrodynamics on microscopic laser scales to hydrodynamics on the SN-size scales is presented and requirements established. Initial results were reported in [1]. Next the appropriate conditions are generated on the NOVA laser. 10-15 Mbar shock at the interface of a two-layer planar target, which triggers perturbation growth, due to the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability and to the Rayleigh-Taylor instability as the interface decelerates is generated. This scales the hydrodynamics of the He-H interface of a Type II supernova at intermediate times, up to a few x10{sup 3} s. The experiment is modeled using the hydrodynamics codes HYADES and CALE, and the supernova code PROMETHEUS. Results of the experiments and simulations are presented. Analysis of the spike bubble velocities using potential flow theory and Ott thin shell theory is presented, as well as a study of 2D vs. 3D difference in growth at the He-H interface of Sn 1987A.

A new method is being developed to quickly screen for the human exposure potential to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and organochlorines (OCs). The development involves two key elements: identifying suitable signals that represent intracellular changes that are specific to PAH and OC exposure, and constructing a device to guide the biological cell growth so that signals from individual cells are consistent and reproducible. We are completing the identification of suitable signals by using synchrotron radiation-based (SR) Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectromicroscopy in the mid-infrared region (4000-400 cm-1). Distinct changes have been observed in the IR spectra after treatment of human cells in culture medium with PAHs and OCs. The potential use of this method for detecting exposure to PAHs and OCs has been tested and compared to a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay that quantifies increased expression of the CYP1A1 gene in response to exposu re to PAHs or OCs.