An Overview of Target Fabrication Capabilities at STFC and Scitech Precision

There has been a Target Fabrication activity in the CLF since its very beginning with the first targets supplied between 1977 and 1980 being hollow glass spheres filled with gas and thin foils. A lot has changed in 45 year and as laser science has developed the complexity of targets has increase. The technologies that are leveraged to manufacture components and assemblies with tolerances of less than a micron have expanded to include the most state-of-the-art microfabrication techniques. The skill of a target fabricator is the ability to integrate all these technologies to produce an assembly that satisfies the scientific needs within available budgets and capabilities. We will discuss the capabilities that are available to the group and look at recent examples of using cutting-edge technologies to produce high power laser targets. We will also look at the challenges that are provided by the next generation laser facilities in the CLF including the 10 Hz EPAC facility and the requirements for support for V20-20 that will be a multibeam high energy/high power system.