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Nuclear reactions taking place in stars are not straightforward to study in laboratories on Earth. Now, inertial-confinement fusion implosion experiments are reported that mimic the conditions for the hydrogen-burning phase in main-sequence stars.

At National Ignition Facility (NIF), yield amplification due to alpha particle heating approached ~3 in the highest performing inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions, while yield amplification of ~15-30 is needed for ignition. Hydrodynamic instabilities are a major factor in degradation of implosions while understanding and mitigation of the instabilities are critical to achieving ignition. This article describes recent and planned hydrodynamic instability experiments with several focused platforms that have been developed to directly measure these instabilities in all phases of ICF implosions. Measurements of ripple-shock generation at OMEGA laser have indicated initial seeds for the instabilities in three ablators - plastic (CH), beryllium, and high-density carbon (HDC). Hydrodynamic Growth Radiography (HGR) platform was used to measure instability growth at the ablation front in the acceleration phase of implosions. This platform used pre-imposed 2-D perturbations for growth factor measurements at different perturbation wavelengths and was also used to measure growth of “native roughness” modulations, fill tubes, and capsule support membranes or “tents”. Also, in the acceleration phase several new experimental platforms have been or are being developed to measure instability growth at the ablator-ice interface. In the deceleration phase of implosions, “self-emission” and “self-backlighting” platforms were developed to measure perturbations near peak compression. This article reviews recent progress and results.

An accurate understanding of burn dynamics in implosions of cryogenically layered deuterium (D) and tritium (T) filled capsules, obtained partly through precision diagnosis of these experiments, is essential for assessing the impediments to achieving ignition at the National Ignition Facility. We present measurements of neutrons from such implosions. The apparent ion temperatures T_{ion} are inferred from the variance of the primary neutron spectrum. Consistently higher DT than DD T_{ion} are observed and the difference is seen to increase with increasing apparent DT T_{ion}. The line-of-sight rms variations of both DD and DT T_{ion} are small, ∼150eV, indicating an isotropic source. The DD neutron yields are consistently high relative to the DT neutron yields given the observed T_{ion}. Spatial and temporal variations of the DT temperature and density, DD-DT differential attenuation in the surrounding DT fuel, and fluid motion variations contribute to a DT T_{ion} greater than the DD T_{ion}, but are in a one-dimensional model insufficient to explain the data. We hypothesize that in a three-dimensional interpretation, these effects combined could explain the results.

The acceleration of intense proton and ion beams by ultra-intense lasers has matured to a point where applications in basic research and technology are being developed. Crucial for harvesting the unmatched beam parameters driven by the relativistic electron sheath is the precise control of the beam. We report on recent experiments using the PHELIX laser at GSI, the VULCAN laser at RAL and the TRIDENT laser at LANL to control and use laser accelerated proton beams for applications in high energy density research. We demonstrate efficient collimation of the proton beam using high field pulsed solenoid magnets, a prerequisite to capture and transport the beam for applications. Furthermore we report on two campaigns to use intense, short proton bunches to isochorically heat solid targets up to the warm dense matter state. The temporal profile of the proton beam allows for rapid heating of the target, much faster than the hydrodynamic response time thereby creating a strongly coupled plasma at solid density. The target parameters are then probed by X-ray Thomson scattering (XRTS) to reveal the density and temperature of the heated volume. This combination of two powerful techniques developed during the past few years allows for the generation and investigation of macroscopic samples of matter in states present in giant planets or the interior of the earth. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.

A demonstration of the ability to control the flow of laser energy in a dense plasma by tuning the colour of multiple laser beams injected into it could be useful in the development of laser-driven fusion.

Hydrodynamic instabilities and asymmetries are a major obstacle in the quest to achieve ignition at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) as they cause pre-existing capsule perturbations to grow and ultimately quench the fusion burn in experiments. This paper reviews the development of two new experimental techniques to measure high-mode instabilities and low-mode asymmetries in the deceleration phase of indirect drive inertial confinement fusion implosions. In the first innovative technique, self-emission from the hot spot was enhanced with an argon dopant to “self-backlight” the shell in-flight, imaging the perturbations in the shell near peak velocity. Experiments with pre-imposed two-dimensional perturbations showed hydrodynamic instability growth of up to 7000× in areal density. These experiments discovered unexpected three-dimensional structures originating from the capsule support structures. These new 3-D structures became one of the primary concerns for the indirect drive ICF program that requires their origin to be understood and their impact mitigated. In a second complementary technique, the inner surface of the decelerating shell was visualized in implosions using x-ray emission of a high-Z dopant added to the inner surface of the capsule. With this technique, low mode asymmetry and high mode perturbations, including perturbations seeded by the gas fill tube and capsule support structure, were quantified near peak compression. Using this doping method, the role of perturbations and radiative losses from high atomic number materials on neutron yield was quantified.Hydrodynamic instabilities and asymmetries are a major obstacle in the quest to achieve ignition at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) as they cause pre-existing capsule perturbations to grow and ultimately quench the fusion burn in experiments. This paper reviews the development of two new experimental techniques to measure high-mode instabilities and low-mode asymmetries in the deceleration phase of indirect drive inertial confinement fusion implosions. In the first innovative technique, self-emission from the hot spot was enhanced with an argon dopant to “self-backlight” the shell in-flight, imaging the perturbations in the shell near peak velocity. Experiments with pre-imposed two-dimensional perturbations showed hydrodynamic instability growth of up to 7000× in areal density. These experiments discovered unexpected three-dimensional structures originating from the capsule support structures. These new 3-D structures became one of the primary concerns for the indirect drive ICF program that requires...

We present a data-based model for low mode asymmetry in low gas-fill hohlraum experiments on the National Ignition Facility {NIF [Moses et al., Fusion Sci. Technol. 69, 1 (2016)]} laser. This model is based on the hypothesis that the asymmetry in these low fill hohlraums is dominated by the hydrodynamics of the expanding, low density, high-Z (gold or uranium) “bubble,” which occurs where the intense outer cone laser beams hit the high-Z hohlraum wall. We developed a simple model which states that the implosion symmetry becomes more oblate as the high-Z bubble size becomes large compared to the hohlraum radius or the capsule size becomes large compared to the hohlraum radius. This simple model captures the trends that we see in data that span much of the parameter space of interest for NIF ignition experiments. We are now using this model as a constraint on new designs for experiments on the NIF.

Ignition Set to Go One aim of the National Ignition Facility is to implode a capsule containing a deuterium-tritium fuel mix and initiate a fusion reaction. With 192 intense laser beams focused into a centimeter-scale cavity, a major challenge has been to create a symmetric implosion and the necessary temperatures within the cavity for ignition to be realized (see the Perspective by Norreys ). Glenzer et al. (p. 1228 , published online 28 January) now show that these conditions can be met, paving the way for the next step of igniting a fuel-filled capsule. Furthermore, Li et al. (p. 1231 , published online 28 January) show how charged particles can be used to characterize and measure the conditions within the imploding capsule. The high energies and temperature realized can also be used to model astrophysical and other extreme energy processes in a laboratory settings.

Laser-driven MeV proton beams are highly suitable for quantitative diagnosis of density profiles in dense matter by employing them as a particle probe in a point-projection imaging scheme. Via differential scattering and stopping, the technique allows to detect density modulations in dense compressed matter with intrinsic high spatial and temporal resolutions. The technique offers a viable alternative/complementary route to more established radiographic methods. A Monte-Carlo simulation package, MPRM, has been developed in order to quantify the density profile of the probed object from the experimentally obtained proton radiographs. A discussion of recent progress in this area is presented on the basis of analysis of experimental data, which has been supported by MPRM simulation. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Experiments on the National Ignition Facility show that multi-dimensional effects currently dominate the implosion performance. Low mode implosion symmetry and hydrodynamic instabilities seeded by capsule mounting features appear to be two key limiting factors for implosion performance. One reason these factors have a large impact on the performance of inertial confinement fusion implosions is the high convergence required to achieve high fusion gains. To tackle these problems, a predictable implosion platform is needed meaning experiments must trade-off high gain for performance. LANL has adopted three main approaches to develop a one-dimensional (1D) implosion platform where 1D means measured yield over the 1D clean calculation. A high adiabat, low convergence platform is being developed using beryllium capsules enabling larger case-to-capsule ratios to improve symmetry. The second approach is liquid fuel layers using wetted foam targets. With liquid fuel layers, the implosion convergence can be controlled via the initial vapor pressure set by the target fielding temperature. The last method is double shell targets. For double shells, the smaller inner shell houses the DT fuel and the convergence of this cavity is relatively small compared to hot spot ignition. However, double shell targets have a different set of trade-off versus advantages. Details for each of these approaches are described.

Warm dense matter (WDM), which falls in the category between plasmas and condensed matter, is expected to exist in planetary interiors. Now, researchers use an X-ray laser to observe the transition to WDM.

A semi-empirical analytical model is shown to approximately describe the energy balance in a laser-driven x-ray cavity, such as a hohlraum, for general laser pulse-shapes. Agreement between the model and measurements relies on two scalar parameters, one characterizes the efficiency of x-ray generation for a given laser power and the other represents a characteristic power-loss rate. These parameters, once obtained through estimation or optimization for a particular hohlraum design, can be used to predict either the x-ray flux or the coupled laser power time-history in terms of other quantities for similar hohlraum designs. The value of the model is that it can be used as an approximate “first-look” at hohlraum energy balance prior to a more detailed radiation hydrodynamic modeling.

Accurately assessing and optimizing the implosion performance of inertial confinement fusion capsules is a crucial step to achieving ignition on the NIF. We have applied differential filtering (matched Ross filter pairs) to provide broadband time-integrated absolute x-ray self-emission images of the imploded core of cryogenic layered implosions. This diagnostic measures the temperature- and density-sensitive bremsstrahlung emission and provides estimates of hot spot mass, mix mass, and pressure.

We have conducted experiments on both the Vulcan and Titan laser facilities to study hot electron generation and transport in the context of fast ignition. Cu wires attached to Al cones were used to investigate the effect on coupling efficiency of plasma surround and the pre-formed plasma inside the cone. We found that with thin cones 15% of laser energy is coupled to the 40μm diameter wire emulating a 40μm fast ignition spot. Thick cone walls, simulating plasma in fast ignition, reduce coupling by x4. An increase of pre-pulse level inside the cone by a factor of 50 reduces coupling by a factor of 3. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.

The acceleration of intense proton and ion beams by ultra-intense lasers has matured to a point where applications in basic research and technology are being developed. Crucial for harvesting the unmatched beam parameters driven by the relativistic electron sheath is the precise control of the beam. In this paper we report on recent experiments using the PHELIX laser at GSI, the VULCAN laser at RAL and the TRIDENT laser at LANL to control and use laser accelerated proton beams for applications in high energy density research. We demonstrate efficient collimation of the proton beam using high field pulsed solenoid magnets, a prerequisite to capture and transport the beam for applications. Furthermore, we report on two campaigns to use intense, short proton bunches to isochorically heat solid targets up to the warm dense matter state. The temporal profile of the proton beam allows for rapid heating of the target, much faster than the hydrodynamic response time thereby creating a strongly coupled plasma at solid density. The target parameters are then probed by x-ray Thomson scattering to reveal the density and temperature of the heated volume. This combination of two powerful techniques developed during the past few years allows for the generation and investigation of macroscopic samples of matter in states present in giant planets or the interior of the earth. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Streaked 1-dimensional (slit imaging) radiography of 1.1 mm radius capsules in ignition hohlraums was recently introduced on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and gives an inflight continuous record of capsule ablator implosion velocities, shell thickness and remaining mass in the last 3-5 ns before peak implosion time. The high quality data delivers good accuracy in implosion metrics that meets our requirements for ignition and agrees with recently introduced 2-dimensional pinhole radiography. Calculations match measured trajectory across various capsule designs and laser drives when the peak laser power is reduced by 20%. Furthermore, calculations matching measured trajectories give also good agreement in ablator shell thickness and remaining mass.

By increasing the velocity in “high foot” implosions [Dittrich et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 055002 (2014); Park et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 055001 (2014); Hurricane et al., Nature 506, 343 (2014); Hurricane et al., Phys. Plasmas 21, 056314 (2014)] on the National Ignition Facility laser, we have nearly doubled the neutron yield and the hotspot pressure as compared to the implosions reported upon last year. The implosion velocity has been increased using a combination of the laser (higher power and energy), the hohlraum (depleted uranium wall material with higher opacity and lower specific heat than gold hohlraums), and the capsule (thinner capsules with less mass). We find that the neutron yield from these experiments scales systematically with a velocity-like parameter of the square root of the laser energy divided by the ablator mass. By connecting this parameter with the inferred implosion velocity ( v), we find that for shots with primary yield >1 × 1015 neutrons, the total yield ∼ v9.4. This incre...

To support direct-drive inertial confinement fusion experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [G. H. Miller, E. I. Moses, and C. R. Wuest, Opt. Eng. 43, 2841 (2004)] in its indirect-drive beam configuration, the polar-direct-drive (PDD) concept [S. Skupsky et al., Phys. Plasmas 11, 2763 (2004)] has been proposed. Ignition in PDD geometry requires direct-drive–specific beam smoothing, phase plates, and repointing the NIF beams toward the equator to ensure symmetric target irradiation. First experiments to study the energetics and preheat in PDD implosions at the NIF have been performed. These experiments utilize the NIF in its current configuration, including beam geometry, phase plates, and beam smoothing. Room-temperature, 2.2-mm-diam plastic shells filled with D2 gas were imploded with total drive energies ranging from ∼500 to 750 kJ with peak powers of 120 to 180 TW and peak on-target irradiances at the initial target radius from 8 × 1014 to 1.2 × 1015 W/cm2. Results from these initial experi...

We present here a summary of some High Density Energy Physics experiments performed on the new facility LULI 2000. First, different flyer plate targets scheme have been tested loading shock in fused‐quartz plate. Temperature data along the Hugoniot curve have been obtained. Second, a strongly coupled and degenerated Aluminium plasma has been probed by X‐ray Thomson scattering. Compton shift from electrons has been observed in various density conditions.

Measurements of yield, ion temperature, areal density (ρR), shell convergence, and bang time have been obtained in shock-driven, D2 and D3He gas-filled “exploding-pusher” inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions at the National Ignition Facility to assess the impact of ion kinetic effects. These measurements probed the shock convergence phase of ICF implosions, a critical stage in hot-spot ignition experiments. The data complement previous studies of kinetic effects in shock-driven implosions. Ion temperature and fuel ρR inferred from fusion-product spectroscopy are used to estimate the ion-ion mean free path in the gas. A trend of decreasing yields relative to the predictions of 2D draco hydrodynamics simulations with increasing Knudsen number (the ratio of ion-ion mean free path to minimum shell radius) suggests that ion kinetic effects are increasingly impacting the hot fuel region, in general agreement with previous results. The long mean free path conditions giving rise to ion kinetic effects in the gas are often prevalent during the shock phase of both exploding pushers and ablatively driven implosions, including ignition-relevant implosions.

The effects of shock dynamics on compressibility of indirect-drive ignition-scale surrogate implosions, CH shells filled with D3He gas, have been studied using charged-particle spectroscopy. Spectral measurements of D3He protons produced at the shock-bang time probe the shock dynamics and in-flight characteristics of an implosion. The proton shock yield is found to vary by over an order of magnitude. A simple model relates the observed yield to incipient hot-spot adiabat, suggesting that implosions with rapid radiation-power increase during the main drive pulse may have a 2× higher hot-spot adiabat, potentially reducing compressibility. A self-consistent 1-D implosion model was used to infer the areal density (ρR) and the shell center-of-mass radius (Rcm) from the downshift of the shock-produced D3He protons. The observed ρR at shock-bang time is substantially higher for implosions, where the laser drive is on until near the compression bang time (“short-coast”), while longer-coasting implosions have lowe...

We have developed a new experimental platform at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) which combines simultaneous angularly and spectrally resolved x-ray scattering measurements. This technique offers a new insights on the structural and thermodynamic properties of warm dense matter. The < 50 fs temporal duration of the x-ray pulse provides near instantaneous snapshots of the dynamics of the compression. We present a proof of principle experiment for this platform to characterize a shock-compressed plastic foil. We observe the disappearance of the plastic semi-crystal structure and the formation of a compressed liquid ion-ion correlation peak. The plasma parameters of shock-compressed plastic can be measured as well, but requires an averaging over a few tens of shots.

An innovative technique has been developed and used to measure the shock propagation speed along two orthogonal axes in an inertial confinement fusion indirect drive implosion target. This development builds on an existing target and diagnostic platform for measuring the shock propagation along a single axis. A 0.4 mm square aluminum mirror is installed in the ablator capsule which adds a second orthogonal view of the x-ray-driven shock speeds. The new technique adds capability for symmetry control along two directions of the shocks launched in the ablator by the laser-generated hohlraum x-ray flux. Laser power adjustments in four different azimuthal cones based on the results of this measurement can reduce time-dependent symmetry swings during the implosion. Analysis of a large data set provides experimental sensitivities of the shock parameters to the overall laser delivery and in some cases shows the effects of laser asymmetries on the pole and equator shock measurements.

Advances in hohlraums for inertial confinement fusion at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) were made this past year in hohlraum efficiency, dynamic shape control, and hot electron and x-ray preheat control. Recent experiments are exploring hohlraum behavior over a large landscape of parameters by changing the hohlraum shape, gas-fill, and laser pulse. Radiation hydrodynamic modeling, which uses measured backscatter, shows that gas-filled hohlraums utilize between 60% and 75% of the laser power to match the measured bang-time, whereas near-vacuum hohlraums utilize 98%. Experiments seem to be pointing to deficiencies in the hohlraum (instead of capsule) modeling to explain most of the inefficiency in gas-filled targets. Experiments have begun quantifying the Cross Beam Energy Transfer (CBET) rate at several points in time for hohlraum experiments that utilize CBET for implosion symmetry. These measurements will allow better control of the dynamic implosion symmetry for these targets. New techniques are b...

Indirectly driven capsule implosions on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [Moses et al., Phys. Plasmas 16, 041006 (2009)] are being performed with the goal of compressing a layer of cryogenic deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel to a sufficiently high areal density (ρR) to sustain the self-propagating burn wave that is required for fusion power gain greater than unity. These implosions are driven with a temporally shaped laser pulse that is carefully tailored to keep the DT fuel on a low adiabat (ratio of fuel pressure to the Fermi degenerate pressure). In this report, the impact of variations in the laser pulse shape (both intentionally and unintentionally imposed) on the in-flight implosion adiabat is examined by comparing the measured shot-to-shot variations in ρR from a large ensemble of DT-layered ignition target implosions on NIF spanning a two-year period. A strong sensitivity to variations in the early-time, low-power foot of the laser pulse is observed. It is shown that very small deviations (∼0.1% of the total pulse energy) in the first 2 ns of the laser pulse can decrease the measured ρR by 50%.

First results from the analysis of neutron image data collected on implosions of cryogenically layered deuterium-tritium capsules during the 2011-2012 National Ignition Campaign are reported. The data span a variety of experimental designs aimed at increasing the stagnation pressure of the central hotspot and areal density of the surrounding fuel assembly. Images of neutrons produced by deuterium–tritium fusion reactions in the hotspot are presented, as well as images of neutrons that scatter in the surrounding dense fuel assembly. The image data are compared with 1D and 2D model predictions, and consistency checked using other diagnostic data. The results indicate that the size of the fusing hotspot is consistent with the model predictions, as well as other imaging data, while the overall size of the fuel assembly, inferred from the scattered neutron images, is systematically smaller than models' prediction. Preliminary studies indicate these differences are consistent with a significant fraction (20%–25%) of the initial deuterium-tritium fuel mass outside the compact fuel assembly, due either to low mode mass asymmetry or high mode 3D mix effects at the ablator-ice interface.

The implementation of polar drive (PD) at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) will enable the execution of direct-drive implosions while the facility is configured for x-ray drive. The Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), in collaboration with LLNL, LANL and GA, is implementing PD on the NIF. LLE has designed and participates in the use of PD implosions for diagnostic commissioning on the NIF. LLE has an active experimental campaign to develop PD in both warm and cryogenic target experiments on OMEGA. LLE and its partners are developing a Polar Drive Project Execution Plan, which will provide a detailed outline of the requirements, resources, and timetable leading to PD-ignition experiments on the NIF.

A new Dual Channel Highly Ordered Pyrolytic Graphite (DC-HOPG) x-ray spectrometer was developed for use in high energy short-pulse laser experiments. The instrument uses a pair of graphite crystals and has the advantage of simultaneously detecting self emission from low-Z materials in first diffraction order and high-Z materials in second order. The emissions from the target are detected using a pair of parallel imaging plates positioned in a such way that the noise from background is minimized and the mosaic focusing is achieved. Initial tests of the diagnostic on the Titan laser (I ~ 1020W/cm2,τ = 0.7ps) show excellent signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) > 1000 for the low energy channel and SNR > 400 for the high energy channel.

The conversion efficiency from laser energy into proton kinetic energy is measured with the 0.6ps, 9×1019W∕cm2 Titan laser at the Jupiter Laser Facility as a function of target thickness in Au foils. For targets thicker than 20μm, the conversion efficiency scales approximately as 1∕L, where L is the target thickness. This is explained by the domination of hot electron collisional losses over adiabatic cooling. In thinner targets, the two effects become comparable, causing the conversion efficiency to scale weaker than 1∕L; the measured conversion efficiency is constant within the scatter in the data for targets between 5 and 15μm, with a peak conversion efficiency of 4% into protons with energy greater than 3MeV. Depletion of the hydrocarbon contaminant layer is eliminated as an explanation for this plateau by using targets coated with 200nm of ErH3 on the rear surface. The proton acceleration is modeled with the hybrid-particle in cell code LSP, which reproduced the conversion efficiency scaling observed...