Timely and repeatable alignment of the 192 beam National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser will require an automatic system. Demanding accuracy requirements must be met with high reliability at low cost while minimizing the turn-around time between shots. We describe an approach for internally self-consistent alignment of the mirrors in the laser chains using a network of local light sources that serve as near field and far field alignment references. It incorporates a minimum number of alignment lasers, handles many beams in parallel, and utilizes simple control algorithms.
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