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Ignition requires precisely controlled, high convergence implosions to assemble a dense shell of deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel with ρR>∼1 g/cm2 surrounding a 10 keV hot spot with ρR ∼ 0.3 g/cm2. A working definition of ignition has been a yield of ∼1 MJ. At this yield the α-particle energy deposited in the fuel would have been ∼200 kJ, which is already ∼10 × more than the kinetic energy of a typical implosion. The National Ignition Campaign includes low yield implosions with dudded fuel layers to study and optimize the hydrodynamic assembly of the fuel in a diagnostics rich environment. The fuel is a mixture of tritium-hydrogen-deuterium (THD) with a density equivalent to DT. The fraction of D can be adjusted to control the neutron yield. Yields of ∼1014−15 14 MeV (primary) neutrons are adequate to diagnose the hot spot as well as the dense fuel properties via down scattering of the primary neutrons. X-ray imaging diagnostics can function in this low yield environment providing additional information about the assembled fuel either by imaging the photons emitted by the hot central plasma, or by active probing of the dense shell by a separate high energy short pulse flash. The planned use of these targets and diagnostics to assess and optimize the assembly of the fuel and how this relates to the predicted performance of DT targets is described. It is found that a good predictor of DT target performance is the THD measurable parameter, Experimental Ignition Threshold Factor, ITFX ∼ Y × dsf 2.3, where Y is the measured neutron yield between 13 and 15 MeV, and dsf is the down scattered neutron fraction defined as the ratio of neutrons between 10 and 12 MeV and those between 13 and 15 MeV.

Experiments have been performed to determine the effect of laser-pulse duration and energy on hot-electron–generation efficiency at high intensity. Thin copper foil targets were irradiated with 1 to 2100 J, 1 to 10 ps pulses focused to intensities >1018 W/cm2. The target volume was varied from 75 × 75 × 3 μm3 to 600 × 600 × 50 μm3 to access a range of bulk thermal-electron temperatures up to several hundred electron volts. Comparison of K-photon spectroscopy measurements from these targets with electron transport and radiation-generation calculations indicates that the energy conversion efficiency into hot electrons is 20 ± 10%, independent of laser-pulse duration and energy.

Fast ignition is a two-step inertial confinement fusion concept where megaelectron volt electrons ignite the compressed core of an imploded fuel capsule driven by a relatively low-implosion velocity. Initial surrogate cone-in-shell, fast-ignitor experiments using a highly shaped driver pulse to assemble a dense core in front of the cone tip were performed on the OMEGA/OMEGA EP Laser [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997); L. J. Waxer et al., Opt. Photonics News 16, 30 (2005)]. With optimal timing, the OMEGA EP pulse produced up to ∼1.4 × 107 additional neutrons which is a factor of ∼4 more neutrons than without short-pulse heating. Shock-breakout measurements performed with the same targets and drive conditions demonstrate an intact cone tip at the time when the additional neutrons are produced. Velocity interferometer system for any reflector measurements show that x-rays from the shell’s coronal plasma preheat the inner cone wall of thin-walled Au cones, while the thick-walled cones that are...

Experiments were performed using the Omega EP laser, which provided pulses containing 1kJ of energy in 9ps and was used to investigate high-power, relativistic intensity laser interactions with near-critical density plasmas, created from foam targets with densities of 3–100 mg/cm3. The effect of changing the plasma density on both the laser light transmitted through the targets and the proton beam accelerated from the interaction was investigated. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations enabled the interaction dynamics and laser propagation to be studied in detail. The effect of the laser polarization and intensity in the two-dimensional simulations on the channel formation and electron heating are discussed. In this regime, where the plasma density is above the critical density, but below the relativistic critical density, the channel formation speed and therefore length are inversely proportional to the plasma density, which is faster than the hole boring model prediction. A general model is developed to describe the channel length in this regime.

The Omega Laser Facility is used to study inertial confinement fusion (ICF) concepts. This paper describes progress in direct-drive central hot-spot (CHS) ICF, shock ignition (SI) and fast ignition (FI) since the 2008 IAEA FEC conference. CHS cryogenic deuterium–tritium (DT) target implosions on OMEGA have produced the highest DT areal densities yet measured in ICF implosions (∼300 mg cm−2). Integrated FI experiments have shown a significant increase in neutron yield caused by an appropriately timed high-intensity, high-energy laser pulse.

Target-heating effects on the Kα1,2-emission spectrum from small-mass Cu targets irradiated with 1-ps pulses focused to intensities >1018 W/cm2 have been observed. A collisional-radiative atomic physics model is unable to reproduce the time-integrated Kα1,2-emission spectrum from the smallest-mass targets when calculated with a single, time-independent thermal-electron temperature. When time-dependent heating to several hundred electron volts is included in the model, the synthetic spectra better reproduce the main observed spectral features.

Warm deuterium-gas-filled plastic shells are imploded by direct irradiation from the OMEGA laser [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)]. The pulse shapes contain three pickets that precede a sharp rise to a constant laser intensity at ∼4.5×1014 W/cm2. The in-flight-aspect-ratio (IFAR), a crucial measure of shell instability to nonuniformity growth, is varied in these implosions by changing picket energies and the timing among the pickets. Simulations that include cross-beam energy transfer in addition to inverse bremsstrahlung for the laser-energy deposition models show better agreement with measurements of the neutron bang time and temporally resolved scattered light and therefore more correctly model the shell kinetic energy. It is also shown that target performance improves significantly as IFAR is reduced. Nearly twice the neutron yield is measured for IFAR∼31 compared to IFAR∼60. The ratio of the measured to simulated neutron yield and areal density increases significantly with decreasin...

Maximizing the neutron yield to obtain energy gain is the ultimate goal for inertial confinement fusion. Nonuniformities seeded by target and laser perturbations can disrupt neutron production via the Rayleigh–Taylor instability growth. To understand the effects of perturbations on the neutron yield of cryogenic DT implosions on the Omega Laser Facility [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)], two-dimensional DRACO [P. B. Radha et al., Phys. Plasmas 12, 056307 (2005)] simulations have been performed to systematically investigate each perturbation source and their combined effects on the neutron-yield performance. Two sources of nonuniformity accounted for the neutron-yield reduction in DRACO simulations: target offset from the target chamber center and laser imprinting. The integrated simulations for individual shots reproduce the experimental yield-over-clean (YOC) ratio within a factor of 2 or better. The simulated neutron-averaged ion temperatures ⟨Ti⟩ is only about 10%–15% higher than meas...

High-intensity, short-pulse laser-interaction experiments with small-mass, wedge-shaped-cavity Cu targets are presented. The diagnostics provided spatially and spectrally resolved measurements of the Cu Kα line emission at 8 keV. The conversion efficiency of short-pulse laser energy into fast electrons was inferred from the x-ray yield for wedge opening angles between 30° and 60° and for s- and p-polarized laser irradiation. Up to 36±7% conversion efficiency was measured for the narrowest wedge with p-polarization. The results are compared with predictions from two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.

Cryogenic deuterium-tritium targets are imploded on the OMEGA Laser System in a direct-drive configuration. Areal densities of approximately 200 mg/cm2 have been measured with implosion velocities of 3 ? 107 cm/s. These implosions are used to study the dynamics of cryogenic target compression and to develop areal-density diagnostics that will be used as part of the ignition campaign on the National Ignition Facility.

Polar-drive (PD) target implosions have been designed for neutron diagnostic development on the NIF. These experiments use thin, room-temperature glass shells filled with low pressures of DT. Initial target implosions on the NIF will produce DT yields in the range of a few 1014 neutrons. The predicted yields are consistent with earlier data (1014 neutrons at 30 kJ) and recent PD scoping experiments performed on OMEGA. The experiments will use existing x-ray-drive phase plates with judicious repointing and defocusing to drive the implosions as uniformly as possible. These implosions have been modeled with three codes: LILAC, to optimize the 1-D design; SAGE, to optimize the pointing uniformity; and DRACO, to predict the yield from 2-D implosion simulations. Current simulation results indicate that the required yields will be obtained using up to 200-kJ UV light formed into a 1500-ps Gaussian pulse. Large-diameter glass shells (~1500-μm OD) are under development and fabrication at General Atomics. As tritium and environmental conditions evolve, similar target designs, with larger diameters and higher laser energies, are expected to produce thermonuclear yields approaching 1016 neutrons.

The OMEGA EP Laser System was completed in April 2008. It consists of four NIF-like beamlines that will each produce 6.5 kJ per beam at 351 nm. Two of the beamlines can be configured as high-energy petawatt beamlines that will each produce 2.6 kJ in a 10-ps laser pulse. This paper describes the current status of the OMEGA EP Laser System and some initial experimental results.

Experiments on the OMEGA laser system [Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] using laser-driven vacuum hohlraum targets show distinct differences between cryogenic (

A high resolution neutron imaging system is being developed and tested on the OMEGA laser facility for inertial confinement fusion experiments. This diagnostic uses a coded imaging technique with a penumbral or an annular aperture. The sensitiveness of these techniques to misalignment was pointed out with both experiments and simulations. Results obtained during OMEGA shots are in good agreement with calculations performed with the Monte Carlo code GEANT4. Both techniques are sensitive to the relative position of the source in the field of view. The penumbral imaging technique then demonstrates to be less sensitive to misalignment compared to the ring. These results show the necessity to develop a neutron imaging diagnostic for megajoule class lasers taking into account our alignment capabilities on such facilities.

For the first time a burst of suprathermal electrons is observed from the exploding laser-entrance-hole window of gas-filled Hohlraums driven with 13.5 kJ of 351 nm laser light. The two-plasmon-decay instability appears to produce up to 20 J of hot electrons with Thot∼75 keV at early times and has a sharp laser-intensity threshold between 0.3 and 0.5×1015 W/cm2. The observed threshold can be exploited to mitigate preheat by window hot electrons in ignition Hohlraums for the National Ignition Facility and achieve high-density, high-pressure conditions in indirect drive implosions.

Neutron yields of direct-drive, low-adiabat (α≈2 to 3) cryogenic D2 target implosions on the OMEGA laser system [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] have been systematically investigated using the two-dimensional (2D) radiation hydrodynamics code DRACO [P. B. Radha et al., Phys. Plasmas 12, 056307 (2005)]. Low-mode (l≤12) perturbations, including initial target offset, ice-layer roughness, and laser-beam power imbalance, were found to be the primary source of yield reduction for thin-shell (5 μm), low-α, cryogenic targets. The 2D simulations of thin-shell implosions track experimental measurements for different target conditions and peak laser intensities ranging from 2.5×1014–6×1014 W/cm2. Simulations indicate that the fusion yield is sensitive to the relative phases between the target offset and the ice-layer perturbations. The results provide a reasonable good guide to understanding the yield degradation in direct-drive, low-adiabat, cryogenic, thin-shell-target implosions. Thick-shell (...

Spherical Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) growth experiments of three-dimensional (3D) broadband nonuniformities were conducted in the acceleration phase of spherical implosions on OMEGA [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)]. The targets consisted of 20- and 24-μm-thick plastic spherical shells having diagnostic openings for backlighter x rays to image shell modulations. Experiments were conducted with square laser pulses at a low drive intensity of ∼2×1014 W/cm2, high drive intensity of ∼1×1015 W/cm2, and a shaped pulse consisting of a low-intensity foot and high-intensity drive part (peak intensity of ∼1×1015 W/cm2). In low-intensity experiments, large RT growth was measured, resulting in shells being broken up by 3D modulations at the end of the drive. In the high-intensity experiments, no RT growth of the 3D modulations was detected. In the shaped-pulse experiments, perturbations grew during the low-intensity part of the drive and were stabilized later during the high-intensity part of the drive. T...

The effects of two types of target mounts, stalks and spider silks, on the implosion of both room-temperature D2-gas-filled shells and cryogenic D2-ice-filled shells have been studied both experimentally and by means of two-dimensional simulations. The simulations indicate that the hydrodynamic effect of the expanding plasma created by the ablation of material from the target mounts and refraction of laser light by this plasma induce perturbations in the imploding shell that are damaging to the implosion. The spider silks are the more-damaging type of mount since the silks (typically four) are arrayed over the target surface, whereas the stalk (typically one) meets the target at a single point. Stalks are therefore preferred over silks as a target mount. The scale and magnitude of the perturbations induced by the spider silks have been verified by planar-target experiments performed on the OMEGA laser [T. R. Boehly, D. L. Brown, R. S. Craxton et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1995)]. The perturbations predicted by simulations to arise from stalks qualitatively agree with the results of implosion experiments using Ti-doped plastic shells.

Time-resolved Al 1s-2p absorption spectroscopy is used to diagnose direct-drive, shock-wave heating and compression of planar targets having nearly Fermi-degenerate plasma conditions (Te∼10–40 eV, ρ∼3–11 g/cm3) on the OMEGA Laser System [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)]. A planar plastic foil with a buried Al tracer layer was irradiated with peak intensities of 1014–1015 W/cm2 and probed with the pseudocontinuum M-band emission from a point-source Sm backlighter in the range of 1.4–1.7 keV. The laser ablation process launches 10–70 Mbar shock waves into the CH/Al/CH target. The Al 1s-2p absorption spectra were analyzed using the atomic physic code PRISMSPECT to infer Te and ρ in the Al layer, assuming uniform plasma conditions during shock-wave heating, and to determine when the heat front penetrated the Al layer. The drive foils were simulated with the one-dimensional hydrodynamics code LILAC using a flux-limited (f=0.06 and f=0.1) and nonlocal thermal-transport model [V. N. Goncharov e...

A high-performance inertial confinement fusion capsule is compressed by multiple shock waves before it implodes. To minimize the entropy acquired by the fuel, the strength and timing of those shock waves must be accurately controlled. Ignition experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) will employ surrogate targets designed to mimic ignition targets while making it possible to measure the shock velocities inside the capsule. A series of experiments on the OMEGA laser facility [Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] validated those targets and the diagnostic techniques proposed. Quartz was selected for the diagnostic window and shock-velocity measurements were demonstrated in Hohlraum targets heated to 180 eV. Cryogenic experiments using targets filled with liquid deuterium further demonstrated the entire timing technique in a Hohlraum environment. Direct-drive cryogenic targets with multiple spherical shocks were used to further validate this technique, including convergence effects at relevant pressures (velocities) and sizes. These results provide confidence that shock velocity and timing can be measured in NIF ignition targets, allowing these critical parameters to be optimized.

By fielding several compact proton spectrometers at various locations around an ignition-capsule implosion at the National Ignition Facility [G. H. Miller, E. I. Moses, and C. R. Wuest, Nucl. Fusion 44, S228 (2004)], ρR and ρR asymmetries of the ablator for a failed implosion can be obtained through absolute measurements of knock-on proton (KO-P) spectra. For ignition capsules with a Cu-doped beryllium (Be) ablator, 50:50 mixture of deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel and ∼1% residual hydrogen (H) by atom, failed implosions can be diagnosed for neutron yields ranging from ∼1011 to ∼6×1015 and local ρRs up to ∼240mg∕cm2. For capsules with an ablator of Ge-doped CH, which contains a large amounts of H, failed implosions can be diagnosed for neutron yields ranging from ∼1010 to ∼6×1015 and local ρRs up to ∼200mg∕cm2. Prior to the first ignition experiments, capsules with a Cu-doped Be ablator (or Ge-doped CH ablator), more deuterium-lean fuel mixture and H-dopant levels up to 25% in the fuel will be imploded to prim...

High-resolution images of the rear-surface optical emission from high-intensity (I approximately 10(19) W/cm(2)) laser illuminated metal foils have been recorded using coherent transition radiation (CTR). CTR is generated as relativistic electrons, generated in high-intensity laser-plasma interactions, exit the target's rear surface and move into vacuum. A transition radiation diagnostic (TRD) records time-integrated images in a 24 nm bandwidth window around lambda=529 nm. The optical transmission at lambda=1053 nm, the laser wavelength, is 15 orders of magnitude lower than the transmission at the wavelength of interest, lambda=527 nm. The detector is a scientific grade charge-coupled device (CCD) camera that operates with a signal-to-noise ratio of 10(3) and has a dynamic range of 10(4). The TRD has demonstrated a spatial resolution of 1.4 microm over a 1 mm field of view, limited only by the CCD pixel size.

Direct-drive, Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) growth experiments were performed using planar plastic targets on the OMEGA Laser Facility [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] at laser intensities between ∼2×1014 and ∼1.5×1015W∕cm2. The primary purpose of the experiments was to test fundamental physics in hydrocodes at the range of drive intensities relevant to ignition designs. The target acceleration was measured with a streak camera using side-on, x-ray radiography, while RT growth was measured with a framing camera using face-on radiography. In a laser-intensity range from 2to5×1014W∕cm2, the measured RT growth agrees well with two-dimensional simulations, based on a local model of thermal-electron transport. The RT growth at drive intensities above ∼1.0×1015W∕cm2 was strongly stabilized compared to the local model predictions. The experiments demonstrate that standard simulations, based on a local model of electron thermal transport, break down at peak intensities of ignition designs, although they...

The use of in situ extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) for characterizing nanosecond laser-shocked vanadium, titanium, and iron has recently been demonstrated. These measurements are extended to laser-driven, quasi-isentropic compression experiments (ICE). The radiation source (backlighter) for EXAFS in all of these experiments is obtained by imploding a spherical target on the OMEGA laser [T. R. Boehly et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 66, 508 (1995)]. Isentropic compression (where the entropy is kept constant) enables to reach high compressions at relatively low temperatures. The absorption spectra are used to determine the temperature and compression in a vanadium sample quasi-isentropically compressed to pressures of up to ∼0.75Mbar. The ability to measure the temperature and compression directly is unique to EXAFS. The drive pressure is calibrated by substituting aluminum for the vanadium and interferometrically measuring the velocity of the back target surface by the velocity interferometer sy...

The interaction of intense laser pulses (5×1016W∕cm2 1018W∕cm2, where the target is heated to less than 100eV. As target volume is reduced, efficient energy transfer by the refluxing electrons heats the targets to hundreds of eV. This affects L→K and M→K electronic transitions during ion de-excitation that probe the bulk plasma conditions during this rapid isochoric heating phase. Comparison of measured Kα yields in the cold-material limit with a Kα production model, and measured Kβ∕Kα variations with numerical target-heating calculations, provides a robust method for inferring the fast-electron energy content. Bulk electron temperatures of at least 200eV are inferred for the smallest mass targets.

The compression in direct-drive, low-adiabat spherical implosions was studied using cryogenic D2 targets on the 60-beam, 351-nm OMEGA laser in the range of laser intensities from ~3 × 1014 to ~1.5 × 1015 W/cm2. The neutron-burn—averaged areal densities decreased as the laser intensity increased. This decrease in areal density is highly correlated with the increased hard-x-ray signals, caused by hot electrons generated by the two-plasmon-decay instability. The areal-density reduction up to ~2, observed in the experiments, requires a preheat energy of ~60 J (~0.3% of total laser energy), which is consistent with the estimated preheat levels inferred from the hard-x-ray signal levels. Mitigating the generation of fast-electrons results in high areal densities which are close to the 1D predictions.

Shock ignition is a two-step inertial confinement fusion concept where a strong shock wave is launched at the end of the laser pulse to ignite the compressed core of a low-velocity implosion. Initial shock-ignition technique experiments were performed at the OMEGA Laser Facility [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] using 40-μm-thick, 0.9-mm-diam, warm surrogate plastic shells filled with deuterium gas. The experiments showed a significant improvement in the performance of low-adiabat, low-velocity implosions compared to conventional “hot-spot” implosions. High areal densities with average values exceeding ∼0.2g∕cm2 and peak areal densities above 0.3g∕cm2 were measured, which is in good agreement with one-dimensional hydrodynamical simulation predictions. Shock-ignition technique implosions with cryogenic deuterium and deuterium-tritium ice shells produced areal densities close to the 1D prediction and achieved up to 12% of the predicted 1D fusion yield.

Hohlraum energetics and implosion-symmetry experiments were conducted on the OMEGA Laser System using laser beams arranged in three cones and smoothed with elliptical phase plates. The peak radiation temperature (Tr) increased by 17 eV, with phase plates for gas-filled halfraums irradiated with 20 beams using a ~7-kJ shaped laser pulse (PS26), corresponding to a 44% increase in the peak x-ray flux. The improved coupling correlates with reduced, cone-dependent losses from stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). Phase plates reduce SRS and SBS by controlling the on-target laser-intensity envelope and the speckle modal power spectrum. An implosion symmetry scan was performed by varying the length and beam pointing of vacuum and gas-filled, thin-walled (3-μm) Au hohlraums irradiated with 40 beams using a ~14-kJ PS26. Gated-x-ray (hv > 3 keV) images taken along radial and axial views of the self-emission from Ar-doped, D2-filled, plastic-shell implosions quantified the indirect-drive-implosion symmetry. A shift in symmetry was observed between vacuum and gas-filled hohlraums having identical beam pointing. The ratio of x-ray drive at the poles of the capsule relative to the waist increased for the gas-filled hohlraum. Levels of hard-x-ray production (hv > 20 keV) and SRS were reduced with trace amounts of high-Z dopants (i.e., Ne, Kr) in the hohlraum plasma, while the peak Tr increased ~5 eV.

Time-dependent and time-integrated absorption fractions are inferred from scattered-light measurements in room-temperature and cryogenic direct-drive-implosion experiments on OMEGA. The measurements agree reasonably well with hydrodynamic simulations that include nonlocal electron-heat transport. Discrepancies in the time-resolved scattered-light spectra between simulations and experiments remain for complex laser pulse shapes, indicating beam-to-beam energy transfer and commensurate coupling losses. Time-resolved scattered-light spectra near ω∕2 and 3ω∕2 as well as time-resolved hard-x-ray measurements indicate the presence of a strongly driven two-plasmon-decay (TPD) instability at high intensities that may influence the observed laser light absorption. Experiments indicate that energetic electron production due to the TPD instability can be mitigated with high-Z-doped plastic shells.

The University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics has been imploding thick cryogenic targets for six years. Improvements in the Cryogenic Target Handling System and the ability to accurately design laser pulse shapes that properly time shocks and minimize electron preheat, produced high fuel areal densities in deuterium cryogenic targets (202±7 mg/cm2). The areal density was inferred from the energy loss of secondary protons in the fuel (D2) shell. Targets were driven on a low final adiabat (α = 2) employing techniques to radially grade the adiabat (the highest adiabat at the ablation surface). The ice layer meets the target-design toughness specification for DT ice of 1-μm rms (all modes), while D2 ice layers average 3.0-μm-rms roughness. The implosion experiments and the improvements in the quality and understanding of cryogenic targets are presented.

Neutron-imaging systems are being considered as an ignition diagnostic for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [Hogan et al., Nucl. Fusion 41, 567 (2001)]. Given the importance of these systems, a neutron-imaging design tool is being used to quantify the effects of aperture fabrication and alignment tolerances on reconstructed neutron images for inertial confinement fusion. The simulations indicate that alignment tolerances of more than 1 mrad would introduce measurable features in a reconstructed image for both pinholes and penumbral aperture systems. These simulations further show that penumbral apertures are several times less sensitive to fabrication errors than pinhole apertures.

Experiments have been performed on the OMEGA Laser Facility [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] to study the hydrodynamics of directly driven cone-in-shell, fast-ignitor targets. A 35° or 70° opening-angle gold cone was inserted into spherical plastic shells of ∼24-μm thickness and ∼870-μm diameter, which were imploded with up to 21kJ of 351-nm laser light. A backlighter was used on some experiments to compare the fuel assembly of targets with or without a high-pressure fill gas. The shock breakthrough to the inside of the cone, where the ultrafast laser propagates in integrated fast-ignitor experiments, was studied using a streaked optical pyrometer. No plasma was seen inside the cone before the assembled core reached peak compression.

The modeling of petawatt laser-generated hot electrons in mass-limited solid-foil-target interactions at “relativistic” laser intensities is presented using copper targets and parameters motivated by recent experiments at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Petawatt and 100-TW facilities [Theobald et al., Phys. Plasmas 13, 043102 (2006)]. Electron refluxing allows a unique determination of the laser-electron conversion efficiency and a test with simulations. Good agreement between experiments and simulations is found for conversion efficiencies of 10%.

Ignition target designs for inertial confinement fusion on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [W. J. Hogan et al., Nucl. Fusion 41, 567 (2001)] are based on a spherical ablator containing a solid, cryogenic-fuel layer of deuterium and tritium. The need for solid-fuel layers was recognized more than 30 years ago and considerable effort has resulted in the production of cryogenic targets that meet most of the critical fabrication tolerances for ignition on the NIF. At the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), the inner-ice surface of cryogenic DT capsules formed using β-layering meets the surface-smoothness requirement for ignition (

Direct-drive laser absorption, mass ablation rate, and shock heating are experimentally studied on the OMEGA Laser System [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] to validate hydrodynamics simulations. High-gain, direct-drive inertial confinement fusion target implosions require accurate predictions of the shell adiabat α (entropy), defined as the pressure in the main fuel layer to the Fermi-degenerate pressure, and the implosion velocity of the shell. The laser pulse shape determines the shell adiabat and the hydrodynamic efficiency determines the implosion velocity. A comprehensive set of measurements tracking the flow of energy from the laser to the target was conducted. Time-resolved measurements of laser absorption in the corona are performed on spherical implosion experiments. The mass ablation rate is inferred from time-resolved Ti K-shell spectroscopic measurements of nonaccelerating, solid CH spherical targets with a buried tracer layer of Ti. Shock heating is diagnosed in planar-CH-fo...

Effects of the intensity pickets on laser imprinting were investigated using laser-driven, planar plastic and foam targets on the OMEGA laser system [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)]. Intensity pickets are used in adiabat-shaping techniques designed to improve stability of inertial confinement fusion targets. The measurements were performed in planar foam targets using the decaying shock method of adiabat shaping and in planar plastic targets using the relaxation (RX) method. In foam targets, the picket reduced the target areal-density modulations by ∼6 times at shorter spatial wavelengths of 30 and 60μm, while at a longer wavelength of 120μm there was no reduction. The “imprint efficiency,” the equivalent surface amplitude produced by imprinting, was reduced by the intensity picket by a factor of ∼3 at a spatial wavelength of 60μm, while it was increased by a factor of ∼2 at a 120-μm spatial wavelength. In plastic targets, used to test the RX method, the imprint efficiency was reduced b...

Low-adiabat (high-compressibility) implosions were performed with ∼860μmdiam, 24- and 35-μm-thick shells filled with 15atm of D2 gas driven with ∼12.5 kJ, 3-ns-square pulse shapes, and a laser intensity of ∼2×1014W∕cm2. Initial target modulations, imprinted on the target surface by laser nonuniformities, were varied by using drive with and without smoothing by spectral dispersion. The performance of the spherical implosions (with a gas fuel convergence of ∼16) was correlated with measured target modulations at the end of the acceleration phase performed in a planar target with similar conditions using through-foil radiography. The neutron yield decreases sharply when target modulations become comparable with the target thickness at the end of the acceleration phase. The measured target areal densities are less sensitive to target modulations. Implosions with 35-μm-thick shells produced neutron-averaged areal densities that are among the highest on OMEGA [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)].

The optical properties of x-ray preheated planar-window materials relevant for shock-wave timing experiments were studied on the OMEGA Laser System. The x-ray radiation was generated by 100 ps, 1×1015W∕cm2 laser pulses incident on planar plastic targets, instantaneously affecting samples located ∼0.7mm away. An abrupt onset of strong absorption of an optical probe beam (λ=532nm) and a temporally varying refractive index were measured in polystyrene and diamond windows. The behavior of diamond windows exposed to x rays is consistent with a simple model based on the generation of free charge carriers. Polystyrene windows showed indications of optical transitions due to molecular states that are created by the ionizing radiation.

A simple, low-cost, high-yield neutron bang time (HYNBT) detector has been developed and implemented on the 60-beam, 30kJ OMEGA Laser Facility at the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics. The HYNBT consists of three chemical-vapor deposition diamond detectors of different sizes and sensitivities placed in a lead-shielded housing. The HYNBT is located in a reentrant tube 50cm from the center of the target chamber. The HYNBT has been temporally cross calibrated against the streak-camera-based neutron temporal diagnostic (NTD) for both D2 and DT implosions. The HYNBT has an internal time resolution better than 20ps and is able to measure bang time for yields above 1010 for DT and 5×1010 for D2 implosions. The implementation of the HYNBT on the National Ignition Facility will be discussed.

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) will provide up to 1.8MJ of laser energy for imploding inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets. Ignited NIF targets are expected to produce up to 1019 DT neutrons. This will provide unprecedented opportunities and challenges for the use of nuclear diagnostics in ICF experiments. In 2005, the suite of nuclear-ignition diagnostics for the NIF was defined and they are under development through collaborative efforts at several institutions. This suite includes PROTEX and copper activation for primary yield measurements, a magnetic recoil spectrometer and carbon activation for fuel areal density, neutron time-of-flight detectors for yield and ion temperature, a gamma bang time detector, and neutron imaging systems for primary and downscattered neutrons. An overview of the conceptual design, the developmental status, and recent results of prototype tests on the OMEGA laser will be presented.

A novel monoenergetic proton backlighter source and matched imaging detector have been utilized on the OMEGA laser system to study electric (E) and magnetic (B) fields generated by laser-plasma interactions and will be utilized in the future to radiograph implosions and high-energy density (HED) plasmas. The backlighter consists of an imploding glass microballoon with DHe3 fuel, producing 14.7MeV DHe3 protons and 3MeV DD protons that are then passed through a mesh that divides the protons into beamlets. For quantitative study of E+B field structure, monoenergetic protons have several unique advantages compared to the broad energy spectrum used in previous experiments. Recent experiments have been performed with a single laser beam (intensity of ∼1014W∕cm2) interacting with a CH foil, and B fields of ∼0.5MG and E fields of ∼1.5×108V∕m have been measured using proton deflectometry. LASNEX simulations are being used to interpret these experiments. Additional information will also be presented on the applicat...

A recent series of experiments at the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics OMEGA facility studied the feasibility of using radiation-to-light converters and high-bandwidth optical signal transmission to remote recording devices as an alternate nuclear diagnostic method. A prototype system included a radiation-to-light converter, a multiple-section lightpipe consisting of stainless steel tubes with polished interiors and turning mirrors, and a streak camera or photomultiplier/digitizer combination for signal recording. Several different radiation-to-light converters (scintillators, glasses, plastics, and pressurized CO2) performed well and produced predictable optical emissions. The lightpipe transmitted high-bandwidth optical signals to the recording stations. Data were recorded with the streak camera, the photomultiplier/digitizer, and with both recorders simultaneously.

Radial profiles of nuclear burn in directly driven, inertial-confinement-fusion implosions have been systematically studied for the first time using a proton emission imaging system sensitive to energetic 14.7MeV protons from the fusion of deuterium (D) and 3-helium (He3) at the OMEGA laser facility [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)]. Experimental parameters that were varied include capsule size, shell composition and thickness, gas fill pressure, and laser energy. Clear relationships have been identified between changes in a number of these parameters and changes in the size of the burn region, which we characterize here by the median “burn radius” Rburn containing half of the total DHe3 reactions. Different laser and capsule parameters resulted in burn radii varying from 20to80μm. For example, reducing the DHe3 fill pressure from 18to3.6atm in capsules with 20μm thick CH shells resulted in Rburn changing from 31to25μm; this reduction is attributed to increased fuel-shell mix for the mor...

An understanding of the nonlinear evolution of Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability is essential in inertial confinement fusion and astrophysics. The nonlinear RT growth of three–dimensional (3-D) broadband nonuniformities was measured near saturation levels using x-ray radiography in planar foils accelerated by laser light. The initial 3-D target modulations were seeded by laser nonuniformities and subsequently amplified by the RT instability. The measured modulation Fourier spectra and nonlinear growth velocities are in excellent agreement with those predicted by Haan's model [S. Haan, Phys. Rev. A 39, 5812 (1989)]. These spectra and growth velocities are insensitive to initial conditions. In a real-space analysis, the bubble merger was quantified by a self-similar evolution of bubble size distributions, in agreement with the Alon–Oron–Shvarts theoretical predictions [D. Oron et al. Phys. Plasmas 8, 2883 (2001)].

Polar direct drive (PDD) [S. Skupsky et al., Phys. Plasmas 11, 2763 (2004)] will allow direct-drive ignition experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [J. Paisner et al., Laser Focus World 30, 75 (1994)] as it is configured for x-ray drive. Optimal drive uniformity is obtained via a combination of beam repointing, pulse shapes, spot shapes, and∕or target design. This article describes progress in the development of standard and “Saturn” [R. S. Craxton and D. W. Jacobs-Perkins, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 0952002 (2005)] PDD target designs. Initial evaluation of experiments on the OMEGA Laser System [T. R. Boehly et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 66, 508 (1995)] and simulations were carried out with the two-dimensional hydrodynamics code SAGE [R. S. Craxton et al., Phys. Plasmas 12, 056304 (2005)]. This article adds to this body of work by including fusion particle production and transport as well as radiation transport within the two-dimensional DRACO [P. B. Radha et al., Phys. Plasmas 12, 032702 (2005)] hydr...

A proton emission imaging system has been developed and used extensively to measure the nuclear burn regions in the cores of inertial confinement fusion implosions. Three imaging cameras, mounted to the 60-beam OMEGA laser facility [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)], use the penetrating 14.7MeV protons produced from DHe3 fusion reactions to produce emission images of the nuclear burn spatial distribution. The technique relies on penumbral imaging, with different reconstruction algorithms for extracting the burn distributions of symmetric and asymmetric implosions. The hardware and design considerations required for the imaging cameras are described. Experimental data, analysis, and error analysis are presented for a representative symmetric implosion of a fuel capsule with a 17-μm-thick plastic shell and 18atm DHe3 gas fill. The radial burn profile was found to have characteristic radius Rburn, which we define as the radius containing half the DHe3 reactions, of 32±2μm (burn radii measure...

In a direct-drive, inertial confinement fusion implosion, a spherical target is irradiated by a large number of overlapped laser beams. Imprinting of laser modulations depends on the relative arrival time of laser beams and their angles of incidence. This dependence was measured in planar plastic targets using six overlapping beams on the OMEGA laser system [T. R. Boehly, D. L. Brown, R. S. Craxton, R. L. Keck, J. P. Knauer, J. H. Kelly, T. J. Kessler, S. A. Kumpan, S. J. Loucks, S. A. Letzring, F. J. Marshall, R. L. McCrory, S. F. B. Morse, W. Seka, J. M. Soures, and C. P. Verdon, Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)]. One of the beams (the imprint beam) had a special phase plate that produced two-dimensional modulations on the target, easily distinguishable from the features imprinted by the other five drive beams. The timing of the imprint beam was varied with respect to the drive beams to study imprinting sensitivity to beam mistiming. Shifting the imprint beam to arrive before the other beams significantly increased the imprint efficiency. The results are in very good agreement with the model predictions.

Preheat due to fast electrons generated by nonlinear laser-plasma interactions can reduce the gain in laser-imploded fusion targets. The first measurements of electron preheat in directly driven, imploding cryogenic-deuterium targets are reported. The preheat level is derived directly from the measured hard-x-ray spectrum. The hard-x-ray detectors were calibrated in situ with a parylene-coated molybdenum solid-sphere target where both the hard x rays and the Mo Kα line were measured. Using electron and radiation transport calculations to relate the measurements to preheat, the fraction of the incident laser energy that preheats the cryogenic deuterium fuel is found to be less than 0.1%, suggesting that preheat will have a negligible impact on target performance. The results are encouraging for the success of planned high-gain direct-drive-ignition experiments on the National Ignition Facility [W. J. Hogan, E. I. Moses, B. E. Warner, M. S. Sorem, and J. M. Soures, Nucl. Fusion 41, 567 (2001)].

Hydrodynamic simulations have shown that a picket pulse preceding the main target drive pulse in a direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosion can reduce both the ablation-interface Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) seed and growth rate by increasing the adiabat (ratio of the plasma pressure to the Fermi-degenerate pressure) while maintaining the low adiabat in the inner-fuel layer for optimal target compression and a minimal drive energy for ignition. Experiments with planar and spherical targets have been carried out on the OMEGA [T. R. Boehly, D. L. Brown, R. S. Craxton, R. L. Keck, J. P. Knauer, J. H. Kelly, T. J. Kessler, S. A. Kumpan, S. J. Loucks, S. A. Letzring, F. J. Marshall, R. L. McCrory, S. F. B. Morse, W. Seka, J. M. Soures, and C. P. Verdon, Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] laser system, showing that the RT growth of nonuniformities was reduced by picket-pulse laser illumination. Adiabat shaping in spherical targets has been investigated with two types of picket pulses—a “decaying shock wave” and a ...

The fast ignition (FI) concept requires the generation of a compact, dense, pure fuel mass accessible to an external ignition source. The current base line FI target is a shell fitted with a reentrant cone extending to near its center. Conventional direct- or indirect-drive collapses the shell near the tip of the cone and then an ultraintense laser pulse focused to the inside cone tip generates high-energy electrons to ignite the dense fuel. A theoretical and experimental investigation was undertaken of the collapse of such targets, validating modeling, and exploring the trade-offs available, in such an asymmetric geometry, to optimize compaction of the fuel and maintain the integrity of the cone. The collapse is complex. Away from the cone, the shell collapses much as does a conventional implosion, generating a hot, low-density inner core. But because of the open side, hot plasma exhausts out toward the tip of the cone. This hot plasma is advantageous for implosion diagnostics; it can provide protons for angular dependent measurements of the shell wall, neutrons for temperature measurements, and self-emission for contamination measurements. But for FI it is a liability; the hot, low-density inner core impedes the compaction of the cold fuel, lowering the implosion/burn efficiency and the gain. Approaches to optimizing this shell design are discussed.