The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the worlds largest and most energetic laser system. The NIFs 192 intense laser beams can deliver nearly two million joules of ultraviolet laser energy in billionth-of-a-second pulses, more than 60 times the energy of any previous laser system. When all that energy hits a millimeter-sized target, it can generate temperatures of more than 100 million degrees and pressures more than 100 billion times the Earths atmosphere—conditions only found in stars and the cores of giant planets or in nuclear weapons.
The goal of NIF is to achieve fusion by compressing and heating a pea-sized capsule containing a mixture of deuterium and tritium. This process will cause the fusion fuel to ignite and burn, producing more energy than the initial laser energy. Achieving nuclear fusion in the laboratory is at the heart of the directorates three complementary missions: ensuring the safety, security and effectiveness of the nuclear weapons stockpile without underground testing; blazing the path to a safe, virtually unlimited, carbon-free energy future; and achieving breakthroughs in a wide variety of scientific disciplines, including astrophysics, materials science, and plasma physics.
NIF is a program of the U.S. Department of Energys National Security Administration (NNSA) and is run by the NIF & Photon Science Principal Directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, California.
The National Ignition Facility app informs and educates users with dynamically updated news, images and videos. Join in the exploration of NIF’s ‘bright’ future.
Features:
- NIF information and missions
- NIF project status
- NIF photos with landscape mode and slideshow*
- NIF videos
- Video and photo bookmarks
- Offline mode for photos and news
- NIF news, press releases and news roundup
- Facebook® and Twitter™ integration for easy sharing
* Slideshow and notification options can be set from the app preferences window in the Settings app