The Laser Mégajoule (LMJ) Project dedicated to inertial confinement fusion: Development and construction status

The French Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique (CEA) began the construction of the Laser Megajoule (LMJ), a 240 beams laser facility, at the CEA Laboratory CESTA near Bordeaux. The LMJ will be a cornerstone of the CEA “Programme Simulation”, similar to LLNL “NIF” facility. The LMJ is designed to deliver 2 MJ of 0.35 μm light to targets for high energy density physics experiments and to ultimately obtain ignition and propagating burn with DT targets in the laboratory. The scientific conception and system design was completed in 1999 and was followed by the Demonstration of an Engineering Prototype which was achieved in early 2003 with operation of one beam of the Ligne d’Integration Laser (LIL) at CESTA, with 9.5 kJ of UV light (0.35 μm) in less than 9 ns from a single laser beam. The construction phase of the LMJ facility was initiated in March 2003 with the start of work on the building and the target chamber. This paper will present a summary of 2004 LIL results and a description of LMJ, which is expected to demonstrate first light performance through 240 beams by 2009.