Simultaneous Multiple Laser Tracker Alignment at the National Ignition Facility

Abstract

The National Ignition Facility's target chamber is ten metres across with around 200 openings, weighs 300,000 pounds bare and 1.6 million with its concrete, and was built on site inside a water tank. Aligning it, and everything that has to point into it, is beyond one instrument's reach. Dan Nelson and Ray Ryan – who surveyed the chamber during construction – describe the alignment challenges, how multiple laser trackers were set up and aligned to work simultaneously on the same problem, and the results.