LASER SAFETY ON A LARGE SCALE -THE NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY

摘要

With over 500 high-powered lasers being used in activities ranging from production optical damage testing/repair to nuclear weapon simulation, and 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.rnThe 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.