Highland Technology Announces Delivery of its T400B Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG) to National Ignition Facility (NIF)
San Francisco, Calif. October 10, 2005 - Highland Technology announces the delivery of its T400B Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG) to the National Ignition Facility (NIF) Project at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). When NIF is completed in 2008, it will be the world's largest laser, producing ultraviolet pulses with energy of up to 1.8 megajoules. Highland Technology's custom-designed T400B AWGs are critical parts of the NIF subsystem responsible for generating the 48 optical pulses that seed the main amplifier chains of its 192 beamlines.
Key goals of NIF are the US stockpile stewardship program plus energy and scientific research. NIF will allow research and maintenance of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile without underground weapons tests. NIF will also help deepen scientific understanding of astrophysics, hydrodynamics, plasma physics and internal fusion energy; as well as material properties, radiative properties and radiation sources.
The T400B is used in the Master Oscillator Room (MOR) to create the initial high-temporal-contrast pulses that are required for fusion ignition. Each T400B AWG creates 140 programmable 300-ps voltage pulses separated by 250 picosecond (ps) in time that are amplified in the 192 beamlines that eventually converge on a BB-pellet-sized target. NIF requires that all pulses leaving the MOR arrive at the target for a proper implosion. The T400B AWG helps meet this stringent window of 12 ps.
"Working in partnership with LLNL to design the T400B enhanced our expertise in high-speed timing instrumentation," said Highland Technology's president and chief engineer John Larkin, "Customers like NIF present complex challenges that allow us to learn more about their fields and help us stretch our own design and manufacturing capabilities."
About Highland
Highland Technology, Inc. designs and manufactures a wide range of precision electrical instrumentation used in scientific research, aerospace testing, high speed imaging and power management. Highland's product line includes a range of VME, embedded, and benchtop instrumentation. Highland has also developed many custom products for OEM applications.
For more information about Highland Technology, Inc., visit www.highlandtechnology.com. Information about NIF is found at llnl.gov/nif.
