Optimization and Improvement of FOA Corner Cube Algorithm

Conference · Fri Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1117/12.562186· OSTI ID:15016773

McClay, W A; Awwal, A S; Burkhart, S C; Candy, J V

Alignment of laser beams based on video images is a crucial task necessary to automate operation of the 192 beams at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The final optics assembly (FOA) is the optical element that aligns the beam into the target chamber. This work presents an algorithm for determining the position of a corner cube alignment image in the final optics assembly. The improved algorithm was compared to the existing FOA algorithm on 900 noise-simulated images. While the existing FOA algorithm based on correlation with a synthetic template has a radial standard deviation of 1 pixel, the new algorithm based on classical matched filtering (CMF) and polynomial fit to the correlation peak improves the radial standard deviation performance to less than 0.3 pixels. In the new algorithm the templates are designed from real data stored during a year of actual operation.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 15016773
• Report Number(s): UCRL-CONF-207026
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ALGORITHMS
ALIGNMENT
LASERS
OPTICS
OPTIMIZATION
PERFORMANCE
POLYNOMIALS
TARGET CHAMBERS
US NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY