B. K. Young

Symmetric Inertial Confinement Fusion Implosions at Ultra-High Laser Energies

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 temperatures and implosion symmetry are close to the requirements for inertial-fusion ignition. Indirect-drive hohlraum experiments at the National Ignition Facility have demonstrated symmetric capsule implosions at unprecedented laser drive energies of 0.7 megajoule. One hundred and ninety-two simultaneously fired laser beams heat ignition-emulate hohlraums to radiation temperatures of 3.3 million kelvin, compressing 1.8-millimeter-diameter capsules by the soft x-rays produced by the hohlraum. Self-generated plasma optics gratings on either end of the hohlraum tune the laser power distribution in the hohlraum, which produces a symmetric x-ray drive as inferred from the shape of the capsule self-emission. These experiments indicate that the conditions are suitable for compressing deuterium-tritium–filled capsules, with the goal of achieving burning fusion plasmas and energy gain in the laboratory.

Shock timing experiments on the National Ignition Facility: Initial results and comparison with simulation

Capsule implosions on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [Lindl et al., Phys. Plasmas 11, 339 (2004)] are underway with the goal of compressing deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel to a sufficiently high areal density (ρR) to sustain a self-propagating burn wave required for fusion power gain greater than unity. These implosions are driven with a carefully tailored sequence of four shock waves that must be timed to very high precision in order to keep the DT fuel on a low adiabat. Initial experiments to measure the strength and relative timing of these shocks have been conducted on NIF in a specially designed surrogate target platform known as the keyhole target. This target geometry and the associated diagnostics are described in detail. The initial data are presented and compared with numerical simulations. As the primary goal of these experiments is to assess and minimize the adiabat in related DT implosions, a methodology is described for quantifying the adiabat from the shock velocity measurements. Results ...

Development of nuclear diagnostics for the National Ignition Facility (invited)

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.

High-resolution x-ray spectrometer based on spherically bent crystals for investigations of femtosecond laser plasmas

Ultrashort-pulse, laser-produced plasmas have become very interesting laboratory sources to study spectroscopically due to their very high densities and temperatures, and the high laser-induced electromagnetic fields present. Typically, these plasmas are of very small volume and very low emissivity. Thus, studying these near point source plasmas requires advanced experimental techniques. We present a new spectrometer design called the focusing spectrometer with spatial resolution (FSSR-2D) based on a spherically bent crystal which provides simultaneous high spectral (λ/Δλ≈104) and spatial resolution (≈10 μm) as well as high luminosity (high collection efficiency). We described in detail the FSSR-2D case in which a small, near point source plasma is investigated. An estimate for the spectral and spatial resolution for the spectrometer is outlined based on geometric considerations. Using the FSSR-2D instrument, experimental data measured from both a 100 fs and a nanosecond pulse laser-produced plasma are pr...

The first measurements of soft x-ray flux from ignition scale Hohlraums at the National Ignition Facility using DANTE (invited).

The first 96 and 192 beam vacuum Hohlraum target experiments have been fielded at the National Ignition Facility demonstrating radiation temperatures up to 340 eV and fluxes of 20 TW/sr as viewed by DANTE representing an ∼20 times flux increase over NOVA/Omega scale Hohlraums. The vacuum Hohlraums were irradiated with 2 ns square laser pulses with energies between 150 and 635 kJ. They produced nearly Planckian spectra with about 30±10% more flux than predicted by the preshot radiation hydrodynamic simulations. To validate these results, careful verification of all component calibrations, cable deconvolution, and software analysis routines has been conducted. In addition, a half Hohlraum experiment was conducted using a single 2 ns long axial quad with an irradiance of ∼2×10(15) W/cm(2) for comparison with NIF Early Light experiments completed in 2004. We have also completed a conversion efficiency test using a 128-beam nearly uniformly illuminated gold sphere with intensities kept low (at 1×10(14) W/cm(2) over 5 ns) to avoid sensitivity to modeling uncertainties for nonlocal heat conduction and nonlinear absorption mechanisms, to compare with similar intensity, 3 ns OMEGA sphere results. The 2004 and 2009 NIF half-Hohlraums agreed to 10% in flux, but more importantly, the 2006 OMEGA Au Sphere, the 2009 NIF Au sphere, and the calculated Au conversion efficiency agree to ±5% in flux, which is estimated to be the absolute calibration accuracy of the DANTEs. Hence we conclude that the 30±10% higher than expected radiation fluxes from the 96 and 192 beam vacuum Hohlraums are attributable to differences in physics of the larger Hohlraums.

Images of the laser entrance hole from the static x-ray imager at NIF

The static x-ray imager at the National Ignition Facility is a pinhole camera using a CCD detector to obtain images of Hohlraum wall x-ray drive illumination patterns seen through the laser entrance hole (LEH). Carefully chosen filters, combined with the CCD response, allow recording images in the x-ray range of 3-5 keV with 60 μm spatial resolution. The routines used to obtain the apparent size of the backlit LEH and the location and intensity of beam spots are discussed and compared to predictions. A new soft x-ray channel centered at 870 eV (near the x-ray peak of a 300 eV temperature ignition Hohlraum) is discussed.

Hard x-ray and hot electron environment in vacuum hohlraums at the National Ignition Facility

Time resolved hard x-ray images (hv>9keV) and time integrated hard x-ray spectra (hv=18–150keV) from vacuum hohlraums irradiated with four 351nm wavelength National Ignition Facility [J. A. Paisner, E. M. Campbell, and W. J. Hogan, Fusion Technol. 26, 755 (1994)] laser beams are presented as a function of hohlraum size, laser power, and duration. The hard x-ray images and spectra provide insight into the time evolution of the hohlraum plasma filling and the production of hot electrons. The fraction of laser energy detected as hot electrons (Fhot) shows a correlation with laser intensity and with an empirical hohlraum plasma filling model. In addition, the significance of Au K-alpha emission and Au K-shell reabsorption observed in some of the bremsstrahlung dominated spectra is discussed.

Full-aperture backscatter measurements on the National Ignition Facility

The National Ignition Facility’s full-aperture backscatter station (FABS) is described. The FABS uses five independent diagnostics on each of the four laser beams in the initial National Ignition Facility quad to measure the energy, power, spectrum, and near-field amplitude modulations of the stimulated Brillouin and stimulated Raman backscattered light. In initial tests CO2 and C5H12 gas-filled targets were used to create various laser–plasma interaction conditions which have shown the capability of producing ignition size laser plasmas with reflectivites on the order of 10%. Results are presented for tests in which 16 kJ on target produced between 0.3 and 2.5 kJ of backscattered light.

Ultrafast x‐ray streak camera for use in ultrashort laser‐produced plasma research

In recent years there has been growing interest in energetic (≳100 eV), temporally short (<10 ps) x rays produced by ultrashort laser‐produced plasmas. The detection and temporal dispersion of the x rays using x‐ray streak cameras has been limited to a resolution of 2 ps, primarily due to the transit time dispersion of the electrons between the photocathode and the acceleration grid. The transit time spread of the electrons traveling from the photocathode to the acceleration grid is inversely proportional to the accelerating field. By increasing the field by a factor of 7, we have minimized the effects of transit time dispersion in the photocathode/accelerating grid region and produce an x‐ray streak camera with subpicosecond temporal resolution (≊900 fs). The streak camera has been calibrated using a Michelson interferometer and 100 fs, 400 nm laser light. The characteristics of the streak camera, along with the most recent x‐ray streak data will be presented.

Experiment demonstration of a 100‐ps microchannel plate framing camera

We report on the construction and testing of a 100‐ps framing camera based on a gated microchannel plate. The gating is obtained by applying a fast voltage pulse directly across the microchannel plate detector. An infinite ground‐plane microstrip transmission‐line configuration is used. We have measured the transit time for electrons through the microchannel plate to be 150±35 ps and the rise and fall times of the detector to be less than 100 ps. The time resolution computed using the experimentally measured edge response times is less than 100 ps.