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Trident laser

Trident laser is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Trident laser rather than just read about it. In short: The Trident Laser was a high power, sub-petawatt class, solid-state laser facility located at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL website), in Los Alamos, New Mexico, originally built in the late 1980s for Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) research by KMS Fusion, founded by Kip Siegel, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, it was later moved to Los Alamos in the early 1990s to be used in ICF and materials research. The Trident L…

Trident laser — main illustration
Trident laser — illustration

Key takeaways

  • Trident laser belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Trident laser to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Trident laser from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Trident Laser was a high power, sub-petawatt class, solid-state laser facility located at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL website), in Los Alamos, New Mexico, originally built in the late 1980s for Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) research by KMS Fusion, founded by Kip Siegel, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, it was later moved to Los Alamos in the early 1990s to be used in ICF and materials research. The Trident Laser has been decommissioned, with final experiments in 2017, and is now in storage at the University of Texas at Austin. The Trident Laser consisted of three main laser chains (A,B, and C) of neodymium glass amplifiers (or Nd:glass), two identical longpulse beams lines, A&B, and a third beamline, C, that could be operated either in longpulse or in chirped pulse amplification (CPA) shortpulse mode. Longpulse beams A and B, were laser chains capable of delivering up to ~500 J at 1054 nm, which were frequency doubled to 527 nm and ~200 J depending on pulse duration; the pulse duration could be varied from 100 ps to 1 μs, and was a unique capability of any large laser in the US (and possibly the world). The third laser chain, beamline C, could produce up to ~200 J at 1054 nm, or could be frequency doubled to 527 nm at ~100 J in the longpulse mode with the same pulse duration variability as beams A and B; or could be used in the Trident enhancement configuration allowing the ~200 J beam to be compressed via CPA to ~600 fs and ~100 J, producing powers on the scale of a quarter petawatt(~200 TW) with a host of laser and plasma diagnostics. A 100 mJ 500 fs probe beamline is also available. The 200TW shortpulse ultra high-intensity laser system is currently a world record holder in ion acceleration energy with Target Normal Sheath Acceleration mechanism, producing protons at 58.5 MeV from a flat-foil, beating the record of the NOVA Petawatt laser back in 1999; and 67.5 MeV protons from micro-cone targets. Trident delivers Petawatt performance at a fifth of the power. The 200TW or C beam is capable of focusing down to less than 10 micrometers in diameter to reach laser field intensities (irradiance) of ~2 × 1020 W/cm2, producing protons over 50 MeV as well as high quality, high energy xrays. The interaction can be diagnosed with a Backscatter Focal Diagnostics similar to a Full Aperture Back-scatter (FABS) diagnostic at the National Ignition Facility. A new front-end for the laser employs a 2nd order cleaning technique, dubbed SPOPA (for Short-Pulse Optical Parametric Amplification) cleaning, which reduces the contrast to better than 10−9 ASE intensity ratio, making it one of the cleanest ultra high-intensity high-power laser in the world. The laser was being used for Fast Ignition ICF research, warm dense matter experiments, materials dynamics studies, and laser-matter interaction research, including particle acceleration, x-ray backlighting and laser-plasma instabilities (LPI). For more information see the Trident User Facility Website: Trident User Facility Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine, Los Alamos National Laboratory, see the references below and these articles using the laser:

See also List of laser articles

References

External links Trident Homepage (Archived)

Illustrations

Trident laser: An aluminum foil irradiated by the Trident Laser (entering from the right), producing x-rays, hot electrons, and an ion beam, which cannot be seen directly. The plasma from the intense interaction is visible as the two cones jetting out in either direction from the target (center), expand into the vacuum. X-ray produced plasmas on the surrounding surfaces create glowing structures. The green light illuminating the scene is from the second harmonic light (527 nm) produced from the short-pulse beam's fundamental wavelength (1053 nm) at the target/plasma/laser interface a few tens of micrometres in front of the target.
An aluminum foil irradiated by the Trident Laser (entering from the right), producing x-rays, hot electrons, and an ion beam, which cannot be seen directly. The plasma from the intense interaction is visible as the two cones jetting out in either direction from the target (center), expand into the vacuum. X-ray produced plasmas on the surrounding surfaces create glowing structures. The green light illuminating the scene is from the second harmonic light (527 nm) produced from the short-pulse beam's fundamental wavelength (1053 nm) at the target/plasma/laser interface a few tens of micrometres in front of the target.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Trident laser

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Trident laser claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Trident laser before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Trident laser ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Trident laser

In research
Trident laser appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Trident laser in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Trident laser is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Inertial confinement fusion research lasers, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Research lasers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Trident laser outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Trident laser in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Trident laser means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Trident laser out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Trident laser in simple terms?

The Trident Laser was a high power, sub-petawatt class, solid-state laser facility located at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL website), in Los Alamos, New Mexico, originally built in the late 1980s for Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) research by KMS Fusion, founded by Kip Siegel, in Ann Arbo…

Why does Trident laser matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Trident laser?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Trident laser.

Tags

  • Inertial confinement fusion research lasers
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • Research lasers
  • Solid-state lasers

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