UK Atomic Weapons Establishment Improves Orion Petawatt Laser Research Facility with New Ultra-Fast Focussing Lenses

Optical Surfaces Ltd announces that it has received an order from the UK Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) for twelve ultra-fast focusing 370mm diameter aspheric lenses for its Orion petawatt laser research facility.

World-class expertise and cutting-edge science, engineering and technology lie at the heart of AWE work, spanning the life cycle of nuclear warheads from initial concept and design, to final decommissioning and disposal.

The Orion laser facility is used to conduct research into high energy density physics phenomena, which occur at the heart of a nuclear explosion or the interior of a star. Orion is used to generate matter many times denser than solid, similar to that found at the center of a giant planet such as Jupiter. At temperatures in excess of 10 million degrees, Orion can replicate conditions found at the center of the Sun. These phenomena cannot be found anywhere else on planet Earth.

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