Abstract

Alignment of the Novette laser requires the direction of two beams, each covering a path of 160 m and passing through more than fifty components, from the master oscillator to the fusion target. Because of the large propagation distances and number of components involved, unassisted manual alignment for each shot would be very slow and personnel intensive. The Novette alignment system makes extensive use of computers to reduce demands on operations personnel.

© 1983 Optical Society of America