While at Zygo™ in the 1980’s I worked in a shift supervisory capacity for the fabrication of the laser amplifier discs for the Nova Laser system used in fusion power research at the Laurence Livermore National Laboratory.

The optics were polished on two 96” Continuous Polishers.  The project originated in the early 80’s and was completed during my term of service that ended in 1991.

The primary laser amplifiers were composed of Phosphorous Doped BK-7 material engineered and made by Kodak™ and Schott Glass here in America and then copied buy Japanese Glass manufacturer Hoya™.    The purple elements in the optical chain are the laser amplifier discs fabricated at Zygo™.

These discs make up the power collecting chain of the system and are integral to the lasers performance.  Nova was an early and important step toward clean fusion power generation.  The experiments conducted with the laser system have greatly furthered our understanding of Fusion Breakeven and magnetic bottling as a containment option.

(To view the
Nova Laser Experiments
and Stockpile Stewardship article
in pdf format click here)

Nova also required large optical windows called BK-7 debris shields or chamber windows.  These ran from 16” to 32” and were polished on what was at that time the largest continuous polishing machine in the world at 144” in diameter.   Along with the supervisory role I played at the time, I was the lead hands-on polisher on this equipment from 1987-1990.