It is necessary that the NIF PEPC LRU Test Stand be modified to accommodate a new experiment. This modification will involve boring two 1/2 inch holes in the Center Loaded Upper Beam of the stand. These holes will allow a small wire to pass through half of the length of one of the long sections of 80/20 part 3030. The holes could adversely effect the load-bearing capabilities of an important structural member of the stand so calculations must be done to assure a minimal risk of part failure.

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This paper surveys theory issues associated with inducing convective cells through divertor tile biasing in a tokamak to broaden the scrape-off layer (SOL). The theory is applied to the Mega-Ampere Spherical Tokamak (MAST), where such experiments are planned in the near future. Criteria are presented for achieving strong broadening and for exciting shear-flow turbulence in the SOL; these criteria are shown to be attainable in practice. It is also shown that the magnetic shear present in the vicinity of the X-point is likely to confine the potential perturbations to the divertor region below the X-point, leaving the part of the SOL that is in direct contact with the core plasma intact. The current created by the biasing and the associated heating power are found to be modest.

Parallel optical interconnects based on multimode fiber ribbon cables are emerging as a robust, high-performance data link technology that enhances throughput by using parallel arrays of fibers. While this technology has primarily been implemented as single wavelength point-to-point links, it can be significantly enhanced by wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). WDM enables both increased point-to-point bandwidth as well as more complex interconnect topologies and routing approaches that are particularly attractive for massively parallel processing (MPP) systems. Exploiting the advantages of WDM interconnects requires multi-wavelength sources, a low loss routing fabric, and small footprint wavelength selective filter modules. The Lambda-connect project ({gamma}- Connect) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a technology development and proof-of-principle demonstration of the enabling hardware for WDM parallel optical interconnects for use in massively parallel processing systems and other high-performance data link applications. This dissertation demonstrates several key system components and technologies for {gamma}-Connect.

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is now under construction at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The Power Conditioning System (PCS) for NIF, when completed will consist of a 192 nearly identical 2 megajoule capacitor storage banks driving 7680 two meter long flashlamps. A fully integrated single-module test facility was completed in August of 2000 at LLNL. The purpose to the Test Facility is to conduct Reliability and Maintainability (RAM) testing of a true ''First Article'' system (built to the final drawing package as opposed to a prototype). The test facility can be fired once every ten minutes with a total peak output current of 580kA with a pulse width of 400us. To date over 4000 full power shots have been conducted at this facility.

Continuous melting of phosphate laser glass is now being used for the first time to prepare meter-scale amplifier optics for megajoule lasers. The scale-up to continuous melting from the previous one-at-a-time ''discontinuous'' batch process has allowed for the production of glass at rates more than 20 times faster, 5 times cheaper, and with 2-3 times better optical quality. Almost 8000 slabs of laser glass will be used in high-energy, high-peak-power laser systems that are being designed and built for fusion energy research. The success of this new continuous melting process, which is a result of a six year joint R&D program between government and industry, stems from numerous technical advances which include (1) dehydroxylating the glass to concentrations less than {approx}100 ppm OH; (2) minimizing damage-causing Pt-inclusions; (3) preventing glass fracture; (4) minimizing impurities such as Cu and Fe to <20 ppm; (5) improving forming methods to get high optical homogeneity glass; and (6) developing large aperture quality assurance tools to verify properties of the glass.

The immobilization of plutonium-containing wastes into stable solid compositions is one of the problems to be solved in the disposal of radioactive wastes. Research efforts on the selection, preparation with the use of the cold crucible induction melter (CCIM) technology, and investigation of materials that are most suitable for immobilizing plutonium-containing wastes of different origin have been carried out at the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Inorganic Materials (VNIINM) and the Institute of the Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry (IGEM), Russian Academy of Sciences within the framework of agreements with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL, USA) regarding material and technical support. This paper presents the data on the synthesis of cerium-, uranium-, and plutonium-containing materials based on borobasalt, pyroxene, and andradite compositions in the muffle furnace and by the CCIM method. Compositions containing up to 15-18 wt% cerium oxide, 8-11 wt% uranium oxide, and 4.6-5.7 wt% plutonium oxide were obtained in laboratory facilities installed in glove boxes. Comparison studies of the materials synthesized in the muffle furnace and CCIM demonstrate the advantages of using the CCIM method. The distribution of components in the materials.

This paper describes design and operation of the flashlamp test system, used to evaluate the primary laser flashlamps on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, California. The tester delivers repetitive high voltage pulses to a series pair of flashlamps at levels closely simulating those encountered in normal operation. Each lamp pair is subjected to a pre-ionization and main pulse shot sequence, with two minute intervals between shots. This capability allows the manufacturer to test and evaluate the flashlamps for infant mortality and longevity before delivery to NIF. All operations are under computer control with fully automated test and data acquisition capabilities requiring minimal operator input. The system is designed to operate continuously. Typical pre-ionization and main pulse outputs are: (1) Pre-ionization Pulse--V{sub chg} = 27kV, I{sub peak} = 3kA, E = 2.4kJ; Pulse Width--(10%-90%) - 200us; Main Pulse--V{sub chg} = 23kV, I{sub peak} - 24kA, E - 78.6kJ; and Pulse Width--(10%-90%) - 350us.

Optical coatings are a crucial part of the pulse trapping and extraction in the NIF multipass amplifiers. Coatings also steer the 192 beams from four linear arrays to four converging cones entering the target chamber. There are a total of 1600 physical vapor deposited coatings on NIF consisting of 576 mirrors within the multipass cavity, 192 polarizers that work in tandem with a Pockels cell to create an optical switch, and 832 transport mirrors. These optics are of sufficient size so that they are not aperture-limiting for the 40-cm x 40 cm beams over an incident range of 0 to 56.4 degrees. These coatings must withstand laser fluences up to 25 J/cm{sup 2} at 1053 nm (1 {omega}) and 3-ns pulse length and are the 1{omega} fluence-limiting component on NIF. The coatings must have a minimal impact on the beam wavefront and phase to maintain beam focusability, minimize scattered loss, and minimize nonlinear damage mechanisms. This is achieved by specifications ranging from <50 MPa coating stress, <1% coating nonuniformity, <4{angstrom} RMS surface roughness, and a PSD specification to control the amplitude of periodic spatial frequencies. Finally, the primary mission of optical coatings is efficient beam steering so reflection and transmission …

The National Security threats that we face today and, in turn, the National Security . requirements, are more diverse and complex than they were during the Cold-War from 1945-1990. During that period, and bolstered by the experiences of World Wars I and II, US National Security policy was focused on the stabilization of post WW II country boundaries and containment of the Soviet block and China. The result was the bipolar world in which the nuclear and conventional forces of the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies ensured a measure of political stability through a military stalemate of world wide proportions. The practical result was that large scale changes in national borders were unlikely, but internal conflict within countries, and local conflicts between neighboring countries could still occur, albeit with participation from one or both of the Superpower camps. US National Security Policy was designed primarily for stabilization of the bipolar world on the military front and for competition with the Soviet Union and China on economic and political fronts. The collapse of the Soviet Union changed the global picture. The bipolar world and its military stalemate appear to be gone for the moment and the threat …

Temperature measurement is one of the grand challenges still facing experimental shock physics. A shock experiment fundamentally measures E({sigma}{sub x}, {var_epsilon}{sub 11}) which is an incomplete equation of state since temperature (or entropy) remains unspecified. Ideally, one would like to experimentally determine a free energy F(T, {var_epsilon}{sub ij}) from which all other thermo-mechanical properties might be derived. In practice, temperature measurement would allow direct comparison with theory/simulation since T and {var_epsilon}{sub 11} are in most theories the underlying variables. Temperature is a sensitive measure of energy partitioning, knowledge of which would increase our understanding phase boundaries and thermally activated processes (such as chemical reactivity (including dissociation and ionization)). Temperature measurement would also allow a thermodynamically consistent coupling of hydrodynamic equations of state to the material's constitutive (deformation) behavior. The measurement of the temperature of a material that has undergone severe strains at small time-scales is extremely difficult, and we are developing a method using infrared reflectance and pyrometry. The emitted power from a warm surface is measured over a range of wavelengths using a multi-channel IR detector with a response time of {approx}0.1 {micro}s. Each channel of the detector passes the radiation from a selected wavelength interval into a detector. …

The inverse free-electron laser (IFEL) interaction is studied both theoretically and numerically in the case where the drive laser intensity approaches the relativistic regime, and the pulse duration is only a few optical cycles long. We show that by using an ultrashort, ultrahigh-intensity drive laser pulse, the IFEL interaction bandwidth and accelerating gradient are increased considerably, thus yielding large energy gains. Using a chirped pulse and negative dispersion focusing optics allows one to take further advantage of the laser optical bandwidth and produce a chromatic line focus maximizing the gradient. The combination of these novel ideas results in a compact vacuum laser accelerator capable of accelerating picosecond electron bunches with a high gradient (GeV/m) and very low energy spread. A computer code which takes into account the three-dimensional nature of the interaction is currently in development and results are expected this Spring.

The Drift Scale Test (DST) now underway at Yucca Mountain has been simulated using a Drift Scale Distinct Element (DSDE) model. Simulated deformations show good agreement with field deformation measurements. Results indicate most fracture deformation is located above the crown of the Heated Drift. This work is part of the model validation effort for the DSDE model, which is used to assess thermal-mechanical effects on the hydrology of the rock mass surrounding a potential repository.

Objective--In this paper the photothermal design aspects of novel shape memory polymer (SMP) microactuators for treating stroke are presented. Materials and Methods--A total of three devices will be presented: two interventional ischemic stroke devices (coil and umbrella) and one device for releasing embolic coils (microgripper). The optical properties of SMP, methods for coupling laser light into SMP, heating distributions in the SMP devices and the impact of operating the thermally activated material in a blood vessel are presented. Results--Actuating the devices requires device temperatures in the range of 65 C-85 C. Attaining these temperatures under flow conditions requires critical engineering of the SMP optical properties, optical coupling into the SMP, and device geometries. Conclusion--Laser-activated SMP devices are a unique combination of laser-tissue and biomaterial technologies. Successful deployment of the microactuator requires well-engineered coupling of the light from the diffusing fiber through the blood into the SMP.

The baseline DARHT-II converter target consists of foamed tantalum within a solid-density cylindrical tamper. The baseline design has been modified by D. Ho to further optimize the integrated line density of material in the course of multiple beam pulses. LASNEX simulations of the hydrodynamic expansion of the target have been performed by D. Ho (documented elsewhere). The resulting density profiles have been used as inputs in the MCNP radiation transport code to calculate the X-ray dose and spot size assuming a incoming Gaussian electron beam with {sigma} = 0.65mm, and a PIC-generated beam taking into account the ''swept'' spot emerging from the DARHT-II kicker system. A prerequisite to these calculations is the absorption spectrum of air. In order to obtain this, a separate series of MCNP runs was performed for a set of monoenergetic photon sources, tallying the energy deposited in a volume of air. The forced collision feature was used to improve the statistics since the photon mean free path in air is extremely long at the energies of interest. A sample input file is given below. The resulting data for the MCNP DE and DF cards is shown in the beam-pulse input files, one of which is listed …

The advent of CCD cameras and computerized data recording has spurred the development of several new cameras and techniques for recording nanosecond images. We have made a side by side comparison of three nanosecond frame cameras, examining them for both performance and operational characteristics. The cameras include; Micro-Channel Plate/CCD, Image Diode/CCD and Image Diode/Film; combinations of gating/data recording. The advantages and disadvantages of each device will be discussed.

Horizontal path laser communications are beginning to provide attractive alternatives for high-speed optical communications, In particular, companies are beginning to sell fiberless alternatives for intranet and sporting event video. These applications are primarily aimed at short distance applications (on the order of 1 km pathlength). There exists a potential need to extend this pathlength to distances much greater than a 1km. For cases of long distance optical propagation, atmospheric turbulence will ultimately limit the maximum achievable data rate. In this paper, we propose a method of improved signal quality through the use of adaptive optics. In particular, we show work in progress toward a high-speed, small footprint Adaptive Optics system for horizontal path laser communications. Such a system relies heavily on recent progress in Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) deformable mirrors as well as improved communication and computational components. In this paper we detail two Adaptive Optics approaches for improved through-put, the first is the compensated receiver (the traditional Adaptive Optics approach), the second is the compensated transmitter/receiver. The second approach allows for correction of the optical wavefront before transmission from the transmitter and prior to detection at the receiver.

The D0 Run2b stave structure has been tested to determine the pressure drop along the cooling line and suggest a possible cooling pipe size. The measured pressure drop, charted versus the flow rate, shows good agreement with what is theoretically predicted, the latter underestimating the experimental data in the worst case with a 5.5% error. At a fixed flow rate of 175-ml/min and bulk temperature of -15 C, a cooling pipe formed from a 0.158 inch (4.0mm) ID tube would meet the 3.0 psi target pressure drop. With the same piping and a bulk temperature of -10 C the pressure drop is around 2.3 psi.

A series of 101mm diameter gas gun experiments was fired using manganin pressure gauges embedded in the HMX-based explosive PBX 9501 at initial temperatures of 20 C and 50 C. Flyer plate impact velocities were chosen to produce impact pressure levels in PBX 9501 at which the growth of explosive reaction preceding detonation was measured on most of the gauges and detonation pressure profiles were recorded on some of the gauges placed deepest into the explosive targets. All measured pressure histories for initial temperatures of 25 C and 50 C were essentially identical. Measured run distances to detonation at several input shock pressures agreed with previous results. An existing ignition and growth reactive flow computer model for shock initiation and detonation of PBX 9501, which was developed based on LANL embedded particle velocity gauge data, was tested on these pressure gauge results. The agreement was excellent, indicating that the embedded pressure and particle velocity gauge techniques yielded consistent results.

We describe a method of improving the appearance of a low vertex count mesh in a manner that is guided by rendered images of the original, detailed mesh. This approach is motivated by the fact that greedy simplification methods often yield meshes that are poorer than what can be represented with a given number of vertices. Our approach relies on edge swaps and vertex teleports to alter the mesh connectivity, and uses the downhill simplex method to simultaneously improve vertex positions and surface attributes. Note that this is not a simplification method--the vertex count remains the same throughout the optimization. At all stages of the optimization the changes are guided by a metric that measures the differences between rendered versions of the original model and the low vertex count mesh. This method creates meshes that are geometrically faithful to the original model. Moreover, the method takes into account more subtle aspects of a model such as surface shading or whether cracks are visible between two interpenetrating parts of the model.

Deformation at grain boundaries is observed and a framework for boundary specific constitutive laws based upon geometric considerations of slip transfer is developed. Orientation images of a pseudo-internal surface during interrupted channel die deformations of a Cu bi-crystal show the heterogeneity of lattice rotation near the grain boundary. The experiments demonstrate that a region near the boundary is strongly influenced by neighboring grain deformation and lend support to the development of deformation models that include the effects of non-local slip system interaction.

Traditional algorithms for automatic target cueing (ATC) in hyperspectral images, such as the RX algorithm, treat anomaly detection as a simple hypothesis testing problem. Each decision threshold gives rise to a different set of anomalous pixels. The clustered Rx algorithm generates target cues by grouping anomalous pixels into spatial clusters, and retaining only those clusters that satisfy target specific spatial constraints. It produces one set of target cues for each of several decision thresholds, and conservatively requires {Omicron}(K{sup 2}) operations per pixel, where K is the number of spectral bands (which varies from hundreds to thousands in hyperspectral images). A novel ATC algorithm, known as ''Pixel Cluster Cueing'' (PCC), is discussed. PCC groups pixels into clusters based on spectral similarity and spatial proximity, and then selects only those clusters that satisfy target-specific spatial constraints as target cues. PCC requires only {Omicron}(K) operations per pixel, and it produces only one set of target cues because it is not an anomaly detection algorithm, i.e., it does not use a decision threshold to classify individual pixels as anomalies. PCC is compared both computationally and statistically to the RX algorithm.

The performance of object-oriented applications in scientific computing often suffers from the inefficient use of high-level abstractions provided by underlying libraries. Since these library abstractions are not part of the programming language itself there is no compiler mechanism to respect their semantics and thus to perform appropriate optimizations, e.g., array semantics within object-oriented array class libraries which permit parallel optimizations inconceivable to the serial compiler. We have presented the ROSE infrastructure as a tool for automatically generating library-specific preprocessors. These preprocessors can perform sematics-based source-to-source transformations of the application in order to introduce high-level code optimizations. In this paper we outline the design of ROSE and focus on the discussion of various approaches for specifying and processing complex source code transformations. These techniques are supposed to be as easy and intuitive as possible for the ROSE users, i.e. for the designers of the library-specific preprocessors.

Simulations of plasmas with a DIII-D shape indicate plasma drifts are important at power levels near the L- to H-mode plasma transition. In addition to enhancing plasma flows in the divertor region, drifts are found to play a key role in establishing highly sheared radial electric fields in the edge of the confined plasma, for the physics of the high confinement operating mode (H-mode). Measurements of the plasma structure in the vicinity of the X-point of DIII-D indicate the importance of drifts on plasma flow between the scrape-off layer (SOL) and closed field lines. The large electric fields provide large flows around the X-point, and these are conjectured to play a role in the transition from L- to H-mode confinement. These results indicate the relevance of modeling the edge and SOL plasmas of present tokamak devices using models which include E x B, {del}B, and pressure gradient drifts. The results of simulation of specific DIII-D discharges is reported in this paper. They start with discussion of the simulation of an Ohmic discharge in Section 2, including a study of the effect of varying several operational parameters. Simulation of a higher triangularity L-mode discharge is discussed in Section, and a summary …