A near back-scattering imaging diagnostic system is being implemented on the first quad of beams on the National Ignition Facility. This diagnostic images diffusing scatter plates, placed around the final focus lenses on the NIF target chamber, to quantitatively measure the fraction of light back-scattered outside of the incident cone of the focusing optics. The imaging system consists of a wide-angle lens coupled to a gated CCD camera, providing 3mm resolution over a 2m field of view. To account for changes of the system throughput due to exposure to target debris the system will be routinely calibrated in situ at 532nm and 355nm using a dedicated pulsed laser source. The diagnostic will be described and recent results will be presented. Work performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by UC/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. W-7405-ENG-48.

A near back-scattering imaging diagnostic system has been implemented, qualified and fielded on the first quad of beams on the National Ignition Facility. This diagnostic images diffusing scatter plates, placed around the final focus lenses on the NIF target chamber, to quantitatively measure the fraction of light back-scattered outside of the incident cone of the focusing optics. The imaging system consists of a wide-angle lens coupled to a gated CCD camera, providing 3mm resolution over a 2m field of view. To account for changes of the system throughput due to exposure to target debris the system was routinely calibrated in situ at 532nm and 355nm using a dedicated pulsed laser source. The diagnostic and calibration methods will be described together with recent results from the NIF early light shots.

A first set of laser-plasma interaction, hohlraum energetics and hydrodynamic experiments have been performed using the first 4 beams of the National Ignition Facility (NIF), in support of indirect drive Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) and High Energy Density Physics (HEDP). In parallel, a robust set of optical and x-ray spectrometers, interferometer, calorimeters and imagers have been activated. The experiments have been undertaken with laser powers and energies of up to 8 TW and 17 kJ in flattop and shaped 1-9 ns pulses focused with various beam smoothing options.

The first experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) have employed the first four beams to measure propagation and laser backscattering losses in large ignition-size plasmas. Gas-filled targets between 2 mm and 7 mm length have been heated from one side by overlapping the focal spots of the four beams from one quad operated at 351 nm (3{omega}) with a total intensity of 2 x 10{sup 15} W cm{sup -2}. The targets were filled with 1 atm of CO{sub 2} producing of up to 7 mm long homogeneously heated plasmas with densities of n{sub e} = 6 x 10{sup 20} cm{sup -3} and temperatures of T{sub e} = 2 keV. The high energy in a NIF quad of beams of 16kJ, illuminating the target from one direction, creates unique conditions for the study of laser plasma interactions at scale lengths not previously accessible. The propagation through the large-scale plasma was measured with a gated x-ray imager that was filtered for 3.5 keV x rays. These data indicate that the beams interact with the full length of this ignition-scale plasma during the last {approx}1 ns of the experiment. During that time, the full aperture measurements of the stimulated Brillouin scattering and stimulated Raman scattering show scattering into the four focusing lenses of 6% for the smallest length ({approx}2 mm). increasing to 12% for {approx}7 mm. These results demonstrate the NIF experimental capabilities and further provide a benchmark for three-dimensional modeling of the laser-plasma interactions at ignition-size scale lengths.