The Central Laser Facility (CLF) at the UK's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire is home to the Vulcan high power Nd:glass laser. Vulcan is a multi-beam laser facility, delivering up to 3 kJ of 1m laser light for experiments in basic plasma physics and applications including X-ray laser research, particle acceleration and inertial confinement fusion (ICF).
Vulcan is currently being upgraded to enable Petawatt powers (1015W) to be delivered to target, which will make it the world's most powerful laser when it comes on-line in June 2002.
The upgrade involves the construction of an optical beamline 60cms in diameter, with turning mirrors up to 1metre across!
Fringe Master was chosen for use with the laboratory's existing 12 inch Zygo interferometer, to enable quantitative assessments of optical flatness with minimum operator intervention.
The photograph shows Keith Hughes of the CLF testing a large aperture, high reflectivity mirror for use in the upgrade.
More information on the Vulcan Petawatt Upgrade is available from the CLF's website.
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OFA wishes to thank the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory for permission to use the photograph on this page