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Orion (laser)

Buildings and structures in BerkshireInertial confinement fusion research lasersNuclear research institutes in the United KingdomResearch institutes in BerkshireWest Berkshire District

The Orion Laser Facility (also known as the Orion Laser) is a high power laser facility based at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) on the former RAF Aldermaston site in the United Kingdom. Construction to build Orion began in 2006 and its first shot was fired in 2010. The building houses a large neodymium glass laser system and a target chamber, and it is the biggest experimental facility of high-energy density physics in the UK.Orion delivers 10 “long-pulse” one-nanosecond duration beams and two petawatt (PW) “short-pulse” 0.5 picosecond duration beams. The facility also provides a comprehensive suite of optical, particle, and x-ray plasma diagnostics to understand the plasma conditions created through the laser interaction. Orion plays a key role in AWE’s core mission to support the safety, reliability and performance of nuclear warheads throughout their lifecycle under the UK’s ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which bans live testing. It can replicate the extreme temperatures, pressures and densities found at the heart of a nuclear explosion for the study and understand the physics phenomena that occur in these environments.Orion also dedicates a proportion of its time for collaborative academic research in the UK and internationally, which is managed through an academic peer-review process by the Central Laser Facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. Academic research ranges from the conditions relevant to inertial fusion energy, planetary and solar physics, high-energy particle acceleration, black holes and much more.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Orion (laser) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Orion (laser)
Winkworth Lane,

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N 51.36 ° E -1.14 °
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Winkworth Lane

Winkworth Lane
RG7 4QA
England, United Kingdom
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