This volume of the LLE Review, covering July-September 2000, begins with an article by T. R. Boehly, V. N. Goncharov, O. Gotchev, J. P. Knauer, D. D. Meyerhofer, D. Oron, S. P. Regan, Y. Srebro, W. Seka, D. Shvarts, S. Skupsky, and V.A. Smalyuk, who describe measurements of the effect of beam smoothing and pulse shape on imprinting. (Imprinting is defined as the imposition of pressure perturbations on the target by spatial variations in the laser intensity.) A principal result is the observation of reduced levels of imprint with the higher beam smoothing afforded by 1-THz smoothing by spectral dispersion (SSD). Additional highlights of research presented in this issue are: (1) P. W. McKenty, V. N. Goncharov, R. P. J. Town, S. Skupsky, R. Betti, and R. L. McCrory describe calculations of directly driven ignition capsule performance on the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The authors detail how the various contributors to implosion disruption (laser imprint, power imbalance, and target roughness) affect target performance and final gain. The conclusions are obtained by examining the simulated target evolution with the two-dimensional hydrodynamics computer code ORCHID. (2) D. D. Meyerhofer, J. A. Delettrez, R. Epstein, V. Yu. Glebov, V. N. Goncharov, R. L. …

This volume of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) Review, covering the period April-June 1999, features a theoretical analysis of direct-drive target performance on National Ignition Facility (NIF). In this article R. P. J. Town, J. A. Delettrez, R. Epstein, V. N. Goncharov, R. L. McCrory, P. W. McKenty, R. W. Short, and S. Skupsky detail ignition target designs developed at LLE specifically to achieve successful direct-drive ignition on the NIF facility. A baseline ''all-DT'' target design is described along with a two shock compression analysis, which includes discussion of the parameters leading to variability in shock timing. The modeling and analysis presented flow down to specification requirements for the laser and target parameters to ignite this baseline target design with the NIF laser.

This volume of the LLE Review, covering the period October-December 1995, contains a description of the generation and characterization of continuous, deep-surface-relief phase plates that are more efficient and versatile than previous designs. The LLE program plan has scheduled a number of enhancements to OMEGA`s performance and uniformity, the first of which is the implementation of these new distributed phase plates. Other articles in this volume include the discussion of an x-ray diagnostic method to measure shell-fuel mixing, the theoretical analysis of ablation-front stability, a description of a major subsystem in the OMEGA control system software, a study of the population inversions in intensely pumped Nd:YLF, and a description of a new ultrafast laser system and its uses.