PLANETOLOGY IN THE LASER LAB
 The Universe is a place of extremes – extreme temperatures, ranging from close to absolute zero to millions of degrees Kelvin, and extreme pressures up to the gigapascal range, and beyond. Extreme gravitational fields create pressures which are able to cause atoms to collapse resulting in, firstly, neutron stars and then, in some instances, going even further to black holes, which have become well known through science writers such as cosmologist Stephen Hawking. In, as far as we know, the only place where life exists, here on planet Earth, scientists are trying to understand what happens in some of these extreme conditions. For example,what is it like at the centre of the sun? Or even deep within some of our neighbouring gas giant planets? Using high power lasers, scientists around the world are able to recreate, in miniature, some of these extreme pressures and temperatures and study how matter behaves in such environments.
Scitech Precision is there too, providing some of those scientific groups with laser targets which are designed by their scientists and then skilfully manufactured by us to allow these groups to carry out their investigations.Welcome to the first edition of the Scitech Precision Newsletter. Read on and join us in the world of micro- and nano-fabrication. Discover how we may be able to help you in your scientific endeavours in high power laser physics, whether it be in extreme planetary conditions, laser fusion or any of the other fields requiring high power lasers and targets. We hope you enjoy this newsletter, visit our website and contact us to discuss your laser target requirements.
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Since 2009 Scitech Precision has been leading the way in the batch manufacture of target components using state-of-the-art micro-milling technologies. Our aim is to support experimental needs using this capability to produce, for example, advanced fast ignition cones in a range of geometries from simple, all-gold designs to complex multi-element, multi-layered versions.
Phase plates are transparent optics that transform the shape and intensity profile of a focused laser beam. A computer generated pattern is copied into a film on one side of a flat substrate and when inserted into the beam creates a diffraction pattern which when focused gives the profile required by the user. It could, for example, be a circular or elliptical in shape with a “top hat” intensity profile.
TriMethylolPropane TriAcrylate (TMPTA) foam is a polymer composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen and can be formed with pore sizes down to 1 micron and densities ranging from 800mg/cc down to 10mg/cc. Sol-gel is commonly used to obtain such low density polymeric foams and by integrating this foam production technology with its micro-machining capabilities Scitech Precision is able to provide low density targets in a range of complex geometries and arrays.
