POWER, ENERGY, AND TEMPORAL PERFORMANCE OF THE NOVA LASER FACILITY WITH RECENT IMPROVEMENTS TO THE AMPLIFIER SYSTEM

High-powered glass-laser systems with multiple beams, frequency-conversion capabilities, and pulse-shaping flexibility have made numerous contributions to the understanding of inertial confinement fusion and related laser-plasma interactions. The Nova laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is the largest such laser facility. We have made improvements to the Nova amplifier system that permit increased power and energy output. We summarize the nonlinear effects that now limit Nova's performance and discuss power and energy produced at 1.05-, 0.53-, and 0.35-mu-m wavelengths, including the results with pulses temporally shaped to improve inertial confinement fusion target performance.