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The overall goal of the indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion [1] tuning campaigns [2] is to maximize the probability of ignition by experimentally correcting for likely residual uncertainties in the implosion and hohlraum physics [3] used in our radiation-hydrodynamic computational models, and by checking for and resolving unexpected shot-to-shot variability in performance [4]. This has been started successfully using a variety of surrogate capsules that set key laser, hohlraum and capsule parameters to maximize ignition capsule implosion velocity, while minimizing fuel adiabat, core shape asymmetry and ablator-fuel mix.

Post-shot modeling of NIF capsule implosions was performed in order to validate our physical and numerical models. Cryogenic layered target implosions and experiments with surrogate targets produce an abundance of capsule performance data including implosion velocity, remaining ablator mass, times of peak x-ray and neutron emission, core image size, core symmetry, neutron yield, and x-ray spectra. We have attempted to match the integrated data set with capsule-only simulations by adjusting the drive and other physics parameters within expected uncertainties. The simulations include interface roughness, time-dependent symmetry, and a model of mix. We were able to match many of the measured performance parameters for a selection of shots.

Directly laser driven and X-radiation driven DT filled capsules differ in the relationship between neutron and X-ray images. Shot N110217, a directly driven DT-filled glass micro-balloon provided the first neutron images at the National Ignition Facility. As seen in implosions on the Omega laser, the neutron image can be enclosed inside time integrated X-ray images. HYDRA simulations show the X-ray image is dominated by emission from the hot glass shell while the neutron image arises from the DT fuel it encloses. In the absence of mix or jetting, X-ray images of a cryogenically layered THD fuel capsule should be dominated by emission from the hydrogen rather than the cooler plastic shell that is separated from the hot core by cold DT fuel. This cool, dense DT, invisible in X-ray emission, shows itself by scattering hot core neutrons. Germanium X-ray emission spectra and Ross pair filtered X-ray energy resolved images suggest that germanium doped plastic emits in the torus shaped hot spot, probably reducing the neutron yield.

The fast ignition scheme will involve the generation and transport of a relativistic electron beam, which may be subject to a number of instabilities that act to inhibit energy transport. This study will address the effects of collisions and the initial electron beam distribution on the linear evolution of these instabilities for theoretical distributions including the relativistic waterbag, the relativistic Maxwellian (Jüttner), and the saddle point (low temperature) approximation of the relativistic Maxwellian. It will then be shown that a more physical distribution obtained from a 2D explicit particle-in-cell simulation of the laser-plasma interaction can be best modeled with a Jüttner distribution, but well-approximated with a relativistic waterbag distribution. In sum, for all distributions of interest, collisions were found to have the ability to both suppress and enhance growth for the filamentary instability, while they only suppress growth for the two-stream instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indirectly driven Symcap capsules are used at the NIF to obtain information about ignition capsule implosion performance, in particular shape. Symcaps replace the cryogenic fuel layer with an equivalent ablator mass and can be similarly diagnosed. Symcaps are good symmetry surrogates to an ignition capsule after the peak of the drive, radiation-hydrodynamics simulations predict that doping of the symcaps vary the behavior of the implosion. We compare the equatorial shapes of a symcap doped with Si or Ge, as well as examine the reproducibility of the shape measurement using two symcaps with the same hohlraum and laser conditions.

We have derived a 3-dimensional synthetic model for NIF implosion conditions, by predicting and optimizing fits to a broad set of x-ray and nuclear diagnostics obtained on each shot. By matching x-ray images, burn width, neutron time-of-flight ion temperature, yield, and fuel ρr, we obtain nearly unique constraints on conditions in the hotspot and fuel in a model that is entirely consistent with the observables. This model allows us to determine hotspot density, pressure, areal density (ρr), total energy, and other ignition-relevant parameters not available from any single diagnostic. This article describes the model and its application to National Ignition Facility (NIF) tritium–hydrogen–deuterium (THD) and DT implosion data, and provides an explanation for the large yield and ρr degradation compared to numerical code predictions.

Ignition implosions on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [Lindl et al., Phys. Plasmas 11, 339 (2004)] are driven with a very carefully tailored sequence of four shock waves that must be timed to very high precision in order to keep the fuel on a low adiabat. The first series of precision tuning experiments on NIF have been performed. These experiments use optical diagnostics to directly measure the strength and timing of all four shocks inside the hohlraum-driven, cryogenic deuterium-filled capsule interior. The results of these experiments are presented demonstrating a significant decrease in the fuel adiabat over previously un-tuned implosions. The impact of the improved adiabat on fuel compression is confirmed in related deuterium-tritium (DT) layered capsule implosions by measurement of fuel areal density (ρR), which show the highest fuel compression (ρR ∼ 1.0 g/cm2) measured to date.

Experiments conducted at the National Ignition Facility using shaped laser pulses with more than 1 MJ of energy have demonstrated the ability to control the implosion symmetry under ignition conditions. To achieve thermonuclear ignition, the low mode asymmetries must be small to minimize the size of the hotspot. The symmetry tuning experiments use symmetry capsules, “symcaps”, which replace the DT fuel with an equivalent mass of CH to emulate the hydrodynamic behavior of an ignition capsule. The x-ray self-emission signature from gas inside the capsule during the peak compression correlates with the surrounding hotspot shape. By tuning the shape of the self-emission, the capsule implosion symmetry can be made to be “round.” In the experimental results presented here, we utilized crossbeam energy transfer [S. H. Glenzer, et al., Science 327, 1228 (2010)] to change the ratio of the inner to outer cone power inside the hohlraum targets on the NIF. Variations in the ratio of the inner cone to outer cone power affect the radiation pattern incident on the capsule modifying the implosion symmetry.

An experimental campaign to tune the initial shock compression sequence of capsule implosions on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) was initiated in late 2010. The experiments use a NIF ignition-scale hohlraum and capsule that employs a re-entrant cone to provide optical access to the shocks as they propagate in the liquid deuterium-filled capsule interior. The strength and timing of the shock sequence is diagnosed with velocity interferometry that provides target performance data used to set the pulse shape for ignition capsule implosions that follow. From the start, these measurements yielded significant new information on target performance, leading to improvements in the target design. We describe the results and interpretation of the initial tuning experiments.