The National Ignition Facility (NIF), currently under construction at the University of California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a stadium-sized facility containing a 192-beam, 1.8 MJ, 500-TW, 351-nm laser system together with a 10-m diameter target chamber with room for nearly 100 experimental diagnostics. When completed, NIF will be the world's largest laser experimental system, providing a national center to study inertial confinement fusion and the physics of matter at extreme energy densities and pressures. The first four beamlines (a quad) have recently been commissioned, and operations on the first bundle (units of eight beamlines) will begin in Summer 2005. A computational system, the Laser Performance Operations Model (LPOM) has been developed and deployed to automate the laser setup process, and accurately predict laser energetics. For each shot on NIF, the LPOM determines the characteristics of the injection laser system required to achieve the desired main laser output, provides parameter checking for equipment protection, determines the required diagnostic setup, and supplies post-shot data analysis and reporting.

Conclusions are: (1) Early calibrations of the Piece Wise Linear reactive flow model have shown that it allows for very accurate agreement with data for a broad range of detonation wave strengths. (2) The ability to vary the rate at specific pressures has shown that corner turning involves competition between the strong wave that travels roughly in a straight line and growth at low pressure of a new wave that turns corners sharply. (3) The inclusion of a low pressure de-sensitization rate is essential to preserving the dead zone at large times as is observed.