The design of the Nova Laser Facility for inertial confinement fusion experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is presented from an engineering perspective. Emphasis is placed upon design-to-performance requirements as they impact the various subsystems that comprise this complex experimental facility.

Energy conservation education must reach millions of Americans in order to see any real and immediate decrease in energy consumption. Since our society gets much of its information from the media, this seems like a most effective vehicle for disseminating energy conservation information to the American Public. Radio is listened to by the vast majority of Americans each day of their lives. Radio as a communications medium is an extremely cost effective method of mass communication and education, and is perceived as a personal medium which has great potential to affect a change in the daily energy consumption habits of the public. Call-in radio programs centering around energy conservation are an effective method of presenting informative, energy education programming that provide instantaneous access for listener/consumer participation. The linking of available telephone and radio technology (via call-in radio shows) allows people all over the US, including remote rural areas, access to the latest energy conservation information and renewable energy technolgy.

This disclosure relates generally to nondestructive testing for identifying structural characteristics of an object by scanned holographic techniques using a known source of radiation, such as electromagnetic or acoustical radiation. It is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus and method for synthetic aperture expansion in holographic imaging applications to construct fringe patterns capable of holographic reproduction where aperture restrictions in nondestructive testing applications would conventionally make such imaging techniques impossible. The apparatus and method result in the production of a sharply defined frontal image of structural characteristics which could not otherwise be imaged because they occur either near the surface of the object or are confined by geometry restricting aperture dimensions available for scanning purposes. The depth of the structural characteristic below the surface of the object can also be determined by the reconstruction parameters which produce the sharpest focus. Lateral resolution is established by simulated reduction in the radiation wavelength and may easily be an order of magnitude less than the electromagnetic wavelength in the material or 2 times the standard depth of penetration. Since the phase multiplication technique is performed on the detected data, the penetration depth available due to the longer wavelength signals applied …

Disclosed is a locking mechanism for an indexing spindle. A conventional spur gear having outwardly extending teeth is affixed to the spindle. Also included is a rotatably mounted camshaft whose axis is arranged in skewed relationship with the axis of the spindle. A disk-like wedge having opposing camming surfaces is eccentrically mounted on the camshaft. As the camshaft is rotated, the camming surfaces of the disk are interposed between adjacent gear teeth with a wiping action that wedges the disk between the gear teeth. A zero backlash engagement between disk and gear results, with the engagement having a high mechanical advantage so as to effectively lock the spindle against bi-directional rotation.