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Lasers and Optical S&T
A decade of discovery: the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory begins survey of the sky
The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory marked a major milestone with the beginning of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), a 10-year effort to capture the universe in unprecedented detail. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) engineer and former project manager for the LSST Camera, Vincent Riot reflected on the culmination of the project and the journey…
Meet LLNL interns: advancing engineering, national security and artificial intelligence
Each summer, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) welcomes students from broad academic backgrounds who bring fresh perspectives and technical expertise to the Lab’s mission. This year, interns are contributing to engineering, national security, high-energy laser research and artificial intelligence. Meet four interns and learn how their LLNL experiences are…
Advanced Space selects LLNL to provide optics system for CAPSTONE 02
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) will support the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment 02 (CAPSTONE 02), led by Advanced Space’s mission integration team. Building on the Laboratory’s optics expertise, the tri-optical imaging payload will enable advanced imaging for the mission’s rendezvous and proximity…
Signal and image sciences community celebrates record-breaking 30th annual CASIS workshop
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory called and the signal and image sciences community answered: The Center for Advanced Signal and Image Sciences (CASIS) hosted their 30th annual workshop at the University of California Livermore Collaboration Center (UCLCC) on June 24-25, setting new records for attendance and technical contributions in the workshop’s three-decade…
Measuring iron in motion at earth-core conditions
It was a journey to the center of the Earth, if only for the briefest of moments. But rather than tunneling thousands of miles from the Earth’s surface, researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and several universities used the National Ignition Facility (NIF) to recreate those extreme temperature and pressure conditions of the Earth’s inner core…
Researchers create first-of-a-kind laser spring with LLNL’s highest-precision optics to date
When a high-intensity laser interacts with plasma, the charged particles typically oscillate back and forth like waves on the ocean. But what if the laser itself could twist like a whirlpool? Researchers have now demonstrated a rotating, spring-shaped laser pulse, opening up new possibilities for fusion energy, particle acceleration, astrophysics and beyond. In new…
Laser experiments push helium to record shock pressures
Deep inside gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn, hydrogen and helium coexist under pressures millions of times greater than Earth’s atmosphere. At those conditions, helium may separate from hydrogen and influence a planet’s internal heat flow, structure and magnetic field. Understanding these processes and how these materials behave under extreme conditions is essential to…
Research sheds new light on laser polarization effects in NIF experiments
Experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) require breathtaking precision. Each of the 192 lasers is focused to a width of a few millimeters to enter a 3-millimeter hole at the top or bottom of a 2-centimeter gold canister known as a hohlraum. As they enter, the beams intersect in plasma and transfer power, a process known as…
Meet the machines that matter: the Flash X-Ray
At your dentist's office, an X-ray machine fires a brief pulse of radiation, enough to find a cavity. Now imagine scaling that concept up by billions, producing a flash powerful enough to see through more than a foot of solid steel and capture a stop-motion image of an explosive experiment in progress. That's the Flash X-Ray machine, or FXR, at Lawrence Livermore National…
Michael May, visionary LLNL director and arms control leader, dies at 100
Michael M. May, the fifth director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and a pioneering physicist who shaped the nation’s nuclear deterrence strategy and arms control policy for more than half a century, died on May 17. He was 100. A World War II veteran, theoretical physicist, and trusted scientific adviser to multiple U.S. administrations, May’s influence…
Meet the machines that matter: the Optics Inspector
LLNL tackles the nation’s toughest security challenges through bold, multidisciplinary science powered by advanced facilities and instruments. In this new series, meet the machines that work behind the scenes at the Laboratory to drive discovery, push boundaries and enable excellence. From inspecting optics and trapping ions to cooling supercomputers and detecting…
LLNL optics system set to fly to the moon with Firefly Aerospace for Ocula imaging service
A team of scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) recently delivered a high-resolution optics system to Firefly Aerospace in support of Firefly’s Ocula commercial lunar imaging service. The payload is scheduled to fly onboard Firefly’s Elytra spacecraft in lunar orbit as part of Blue Ghost Mission 2, targeted to launch no earlier than late 2026. The…
Meet LLNL: Laser Material Interaction Deputy Group Leader Sonny Ly
Sonny Ly has built a career at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) combining laser physics, materials science and mentorship. A deputy group leader in the Laser Material Interaction Science Group within the Materials Science Division under Physical and Life Sciences, Ly first came to the Lab in 2010 as a graduate student from the University of California, Davis…
NASA's Roman telescope poised to transform hunt for elusive neutron stars
Astronomers have long known that neutron stars, the crushed cores left behind after massive stars explode, should be scattered throughout the Milky Way galaxy. However, most of them are effectively invisible. A new study published in Astronomy and Astrophysics suggests NASA’s upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could spot them anyway. Using detailed simulations of…
Pandora mission images help prepare for exoplanet atmosphere observations
A symbolic milestone in the lead-up to mission-readiness: the Pandora Observatory transmitted its first engineering images from low-Earth orbit on Jan. 19, 2026. The CODA telescope, developed by a team of scientists and engineers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in partnership with Corning Incorporated, captured an abstract portrait of the cosmos as it…
Two LLNL teams attend DOE’s Energy I-Corps Cohort 22
Continuing a decade of entrepreneurial training and commercializing mission innovation, two teams of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers attended the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy I-Corps (EIC) Cohort 22 in Colorado this spring. The EIC is a key initiative of the DOE’s Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC). Candice Bila from the…
Revitalized laser technology captures commercialization grant
Small, modular nuclear fission reactors and fusion facilities could each be the future of resilient and secure energy in the U.S. and around the world. But these technologies rely on isotopes of lithium to cool fission reactors and create fusion fuel. Currently, there is no sustained, domestic production mechanism for lithium isotopes in the U.S. that meets projected…
LLNL partners with Inertia to develop fusion energy technology
Scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) are partnering with San Francisco Bay Area fusion energy startup Inertia Enterprises Inc. to advance fusion laser technology, as well as inertial fusion target manufacturing and designs. This collaboration is an expansive and integrated private sector-led partnership, unique in the history of LLNL and the DOE…
NNSA and LLNL advance laser upgrade for nuclear stockpile mission ahead of schedule
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) have approved a path forward for a project that will increase the laser energy available to the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). This advancement was expedited by key regulatory changes made in March 2025 by U.S. Secretary of Energy…
Livermore Institute for Fusion Technology honored for innovation
The East Bay Economic Development Alliance (EDA) honored Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)’s Livermore Institute for Fusion Technology (LIFT) with a 2026 East Bay Innovation Award. Livermore Mayor John Marchand nominated LIFT for the award in the Catalyst Category. LLNL scientists Bassem El Dasher and Wayne Miller accepted the award on behalf of the entire LIFT…
