Target fabrication for the POLAR experiment on the Orion laser facility

This article describes the fabrication of a suite of laser targets by the Target Fabrication group in the Central Laser Facility (CLF), STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory for the first academic-access experiment on the Orion laser facility (Hopps et al. , Appl. Opt. 52 , 3597–3601 (2013)) at Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE). This experiment, part of the POLAR project (Falize et al. , Astrophys. Space Sci. 336 , 81–85 (2011); Busschaert et al. , New J. Phys. 15 , 035020 (2013)), studied conditions relevant to the radiation-hydrodynamic processes occurring in a remarkable class of astrophysical star systems known as magnetic cataclysmic variables. A large number of complex fabrication technologies and research and development activities were required to field a total of 80 high-specification targets. Target design and fabrication procedures are described and initial alignment and characterization data are discussed.