2010 R&D 100 Winner
The goal of the National Ignition Campaign is to produce small thermonuclear explosions from material compressed to conditions near those at the centers of stars. 2D images with ~5-thousandths of a millimeter of spatial resolution and ~5-trillionths of a second time resolution are needed to measure the detailed processes occurring, and must be done without the instrument succumbing to the effect of intense radiation and electrical fields.
This capability is now available with the GATOR—Grating Actuated Transient Optical Recorder developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Lawrence, Calif. The device consists of four elements: a grating, a semiconductor, a probe laser, and a recording system. It relies on the phenomena of the radiation-induced index of refraction change in a semiconductor to transcode an x-ray or optical image into a coherent light image. GATOR improves upon the time resolution achievable with existing instruments by over a factor of 50 and operational resistance to neutrons by over a factor of 10,000 by transcoding x-rays and other radiation directly onto a coherent laser probe beam. The GATOR can also image events from high-power lasers, free electron x-ray lasers, and other high-energy-density objects.
Technology
Grating-actuated optical radiation recorder
Developer
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Development Team
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(L to R): Steve Vernon, Rick Stewart, Warren Hsing, Paul Steele.
Not pictured are Mark Lowry and Susan Haynes. |
The GATOR - Grating Actuated Transient Optical Recorder Development Team from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory:
Susan Haynes
Warren W. Hsing
Mark Lowry
Paul Steele
Richard Stewart
Steve Vernon
