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.

This volume of the LLE Review, covering the period January-March 1996, contains three articles related to spherical implosions and their diagnosis, one article that provides an analysis of laser-plasma interactions, and three articles on advanced technologies developed at LLE.

This volume of the LLE Review includes an article on the status of the optics on the OMEGA laser system after the first 18 months of operation. A vigorous program to monitor the performance of the optics has been followed since the inception of the OMEGA laser. The article presents results from these observations and defines the various types of possible damage. Many of the optics have not damaged, such as the frequency-conversion crystals, polarizers, calorimeters, and liquid crystal optics. The most significant damage has been sustained by the fused-silica spatial filter lenses. There has been no evidence of any propagation of damage downstream of damage optics. Other highlights of research presented here are: The development of a single-beam, ponderomotive optical trap for energetic free electrons. A description of the new diode-pumped Nd:YLF master oscillator for the OMEGA laser. Simulations of heat transfer from localized absorbing defects to the host coating material in HfO{sub 2}/SiO{sub 2} 351-nm high reflectors. An experimental study of target performance and mixing in titanium-doped target implosions on OMEGA. A theoretical calculation of the dephasing time of an electron accelerated by a laser pulse. Separate abstracts have been indexed into the energy database from articles in …