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MEC mirrors and telescope lenses

Highly reflective mirrors and telescope lenses in the Matter in Extreme Conditions optical laser system

Highly reflective mirrors and telescope lenses in the Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC) optical laser system are carefully positioned to propagate the instrument’s high-quality laser beams. The laser beams create extreme pressure and temperature conditions in materials that are instantaneously probed using hard X-rays from SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). 

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Tripling the energy and refining the shape of optical laser pulses at LCLS’s Matter in Extreme Conditions instrument allows researchers to recreate higher-pressure conditions and explore unsolved questions relevant to fusion energy, plasma physics and materials science.

Laser engineers with the upgraded Matter in Extreme Conditions optical laser

Creating conditions for fusion on Earth involves generating and sustaining a plasma. Plasmas are gases that are so hot that electrons are freed from atomic nuclei.

Highly reflective mirrors and telescope lenses in the Matter in Extreme Conditions optical laser system
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