Product Code: ILSC2009_1105

Laser Safety on a Large Scale - The National Ignition Facility
Authors:
Jamie King, National Ignition Facility; Livermore CA USA
Presented at ILSC 2009

With over 500 high-powered lasers being used in activities ranging
from production optical damage testing/repair to nuclear weapon
simulation, to laser fusion research, the National Ignition Facility
(NIF) and Photon Science Directorate is one of the largest per
capita users of lasers in the world. Throughout the various
research and NIF support labs, laser safety presents many typical
and not so typical challenges. Within the confines of the football
stadium sized, 192-beam, 1.8 Mega Joule NIF, the challenges are
far more complex, cross many disciplines, and require much higher
levels of control.
The purpose of this paper is to describe laser safety practices used
in many of the NIF research and support labs, and to explain how
unique complexities and problems are tackled in a large scale laser
facility such as the NIF.