Recent advances in High Average Power (HAP) solid state lasers and the development of new concept lasers with the potential of ultra- high average power output have put increasing demands on the transparency of optical window materials. To gain a better understanding of the current status of window materials and to direct research toward more nearly transparent materials, we have constructed an optical characterization facility with the purpose of making quantitative optical loss measurements in the sensitivity range of 10/sup /minus/3/ to 10/sup /minus/6/ cm/sup /minus/1/. The cornerstone of this facility is a scanning optical lossmeter in which loss is determined by comparing the decay time of an optical cavity with and without a transparent solid present. The lossmeter has been successfully applied to measurements of the optical loss of witness samples of highly transparent fused silica. A description of the lossmeter and a compilation of preliminary loss measurements are presented here. 3 refs.

A brief review of the phenomenology associated with the effort to produce and observe quark-gluon plasma in particle collisions is presented. E-735 has taken data during the 1987 Tevatron-Collider run at /square root/s = 1.8 TeV in pursuit of this goal. Results in the correlation of < p/sub t/ > with multiplicity for charged particles and p/sub t/ distributions for ..lambda../sup o/ and /bar Lambda//sup o/ are presented. 32 refs., 10 figs., 2 tabs.

We have completed a database of average-power, laser-induced, damage thresholds at 1064 nm on a variety of materials. Measurements were made with a newly constructed laser to provide design input for moderate and high average-power laser projects. The measurements were conducted with 16-ns pulses at pulse-repetition frequencies ranging from 6 to 120 Hz. Samples were typically irradiated for time ranging from a fraction of a second up to 5 minutes (36,000 shots). We tested seven categories of samples which included antireflective coatings, high reflectors, polarizers, single and multiple layers of the same material, bare and overcoated metal surfaces, bare polished surfaces, and bulk materials. The measured damage threshold ranged from < 1 J/cm/sup 2/ for some metals to > 46 J/cm/sup 2/ for a bare polished glass substrate. 4 refs., 7 figs., 1 tab.

The optimal development and management of a geothermal resource requires a knowledge of the hydrological characteristics of the reservoir. Reservoir engineering analysis techniques for permeable aquifers have been undergoing development for several decades but little attention has been paid to fracture-dominated systems. A program to test the ability of Huff-Puff tests to help characterize a fracture-dominated reservoir is presented. Several series of these injection (Huff)-backflow (Puff) tests were conducted at the Raft River KGRA in Southern Idaho. These test series are described and preliminary results and interpretations are discussed.

Uranium and uranium alloys can be readily machined by conventional methods in the standard machine shop when proper safety and operating techniques are used. Material properties that affect machining processes and recommended machining parameters are discussed. Safety procedures and precautions necessary in machining uranium and uranium alloys are also covered. 30 figures.