E. L. Lindman

Evidence of plasma fluctuations and their effect on the growth of stimulated Brillouin and stimulated Raman scattering in laser plasmas

The reflectivity levels of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in recent large scale length laser plasma experiments is much lower than expected for conditions where the convective gain exponent is expected to be large. Long wavelength velocity fluctuations caused during the plasma formation process, or by parametric instabilities themselves, have been proposed as a mechanism to detune SBS in these experiments and reduce its gain. Evidence of large velocity fluctuation levels is found in the time-resolved SBS spectra from these experiments, and correlates with observed changes in the reflectivity of both SBS and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS). The authors present evidence of fluctuations which increase as the plasma density systematically increases, and discuss their effect on the growth of parametric instabilities.

Symmetry experiments in gas‐filled hohlraums at NOVA

Understanding drive symmetry in gas‐filled hohlraums is currently of interest because the baseline design of the indirect drive ignition target for the planned National Ignition Facility uses a gas‐filled hohlraum. This paper reports on the results of a series of experiments performed at the Nova laser [C. Bibeau et al. Appl. Opt. 31, 5799 (1992)] facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory with the goal of understanding time‐dependent drive symmetry in gas filled hohlraums. Time‐dependent symmetry data from capsule implosions and reemission targets in gas‐filled hohlraums are discussed. Results of symmetry measurements using thin wall gas‐filled hohlraums are also discussed. The results show that the gas is effective in impeding the motion of the wall blowoff material, and that the resulting implosion performance of the capsule is not significantly degraded from vacuum results. The implosion symmetry in gas differs from vacuum results with similar laser pointing indicating a shift in beam position...

Characterization of plasma and laser conditions for single hot spot experiments

The TRIDENT laser system at the Los Alamos National Laboratory is being used for fundamental experiments which study the interaction of self-focusing, stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in a near-diffraction-limited (single) laser hot spot in order to better understand the coupling between these plasma instabilities. The diffraction limited beam mimics a single hot spot found in speckle distributions that are typical of random or kinoform phase plates (RPP or KPP) used for spatial smoothing of laser beams. A long scale length, hot plasma (∼1 mm, ∼0.6 keV) is created by a separate heater beam, and the single hot spot beam is used to drive parametric instabilities. The focal plane distribution and wave-front of the interaction beam are characterized, and its intensity can be varied between 10 14 –10 16 W/cm 2 . The plasma density, temperature, and flow profiles are measured using a gated imaging spectroscopy of collective Thomson scattering from the heater beam. Results of the laser and plasma characterization, and initial results of backscattered SRS, SBS, and beam steering in a flowing plasma are presented.

Shock structuring due to fabrication joints in targets

The use of copper-doped beryllium ablators on National Ignition Facility [J. A. Paisner et al., Laser Focus World 30, 75 (1994)] targets, in place of plastic, can require the bonding together of hemispheres with a joint of differing composition. Indirect drive experiments have been conducted on the Nova laser [J. L. Emmet, W. F. Krupke, and J. B. Trenholme, Sov. J. Quantum Electron. 13, 1 (1983)], and the resulting shock structuring compared with code simulations. It is concluded that one of the available codes, the RAGE code [R. M. Baltrusaitis et al., Phys. Fluids 8, 2471 (1996)] provides useful insight into the effect of joints. This code is then employed to obtain a physical picture of the shock front nonuniformity in terms of a secondary rarefaction and an oblique shock interacting with the main shock that propagates in the absence of the joint. A simple analysis reinforces this picture.

Review of drive symmetry measurement and control experiments on the Nova laser system (invited)

Good radiation drive symmetry is crucial for achieving ignition in laboratory inertial fusion experiments. X‐ray drive symmetry in hohlraums has been the subject of investigation for more than four years and a great deal of progress has been made. Over the last two to three years, a concerted series of (indirect) drive symmetry experiments has been performed on the Nova laser system and is the subject of the present paper. The goals of this work have been to develop measurement techniques and to apply them to symmetry variation and control experiments. The principal diagnostic has utilized the symmetry signature impressed on the dense core of a target imploded by the hohlraum x‐ray environment. The core is distorted by drive asymmetries and x‐ray imaging of this core provides a mapping that can be compared with theoretical modeling and thus related to specific amounts of drive asymmetry. We will describe the instruments and measurement techniques used in these experiments and present representative data a...

Observation of reduced beam deflection using smoothed beams in gas-filled hohlraum symmetry experiments at Nova

Execution and modeling of drive symmetry experiments in gas-filled hohlraums have been pursued to provide both a better understanding of radiation symmetry in such hohlraums and to verify the accuracy of the design tools which are used to predict target performance for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [J. Lindl, Phys. Plasmas 2, 3933 (1995)]. In this paper, the results of a series of drive symmetry experiments using gas-filled hohlraums at the Nova laser facility [C. Bibeau et al., Appl. Opt. 31, 5799 (1992)] at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are presented. A very important element of these experiments was the use of kineform phase plates (KPP) to smooth the Nova beams. The effect of smoothing the ten Nova beams with KPP phase plates is to remove most of the beam bending which had been observed previously, leaving a residual bending of only 1.5°, equivalent to a 35 μm pointing offset at the hohlraum wall. The results show that the symmetry variation with pointing of implosions in gas-filled ho...

Indirect drive experiments utilizing multiple beam cones in cylindrical hohlraums on OMEGA

Current plans for time-dependent control of flux asymmetry in the National Ignition Facility [J. A. Paisner, J. D. Boyes, S. A. Kumpan, and M. Sorem, “The National Ignition Facility Project,” ICF Quart. 5, 110 (1995)] hohlraums rely on multiple beam cones with different laser power temporal profiles in each cone. Experiments with multiple beam cones have begun on the Omega laser facility [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] at the University of Rochester. In addition to allowing symmetry experiments similar to those performed on Nova [A. Hauer et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 66, 672 (1995)], the Omega facility allows multiple beam cones to be moved independently to confirm our ability to model the resulting implosion image shapes. Results indicate that hohlraum symmetry behaves similarly with multiple rings of beams as with a single ring, but with the weighted beam spot position used to parametrize the beam pointing.

The design and characterization of toroidal‐shaped NOVA hohlraums that simulate National Ignition Facility plasma conditions for plasma instability experiments

Special Nova hohlraums have been designed to simulate the plasma conditions calculated for various NIF hohlraum point designs. These hohlraums attempt to maximize the laser pathlength for parametric instability measurements. A toroidal‐shaped hohlraum with a diameter of 3200 microns and a length of 1600 microns allows a laser pathlength of about 2 mm. Filling the hohlraum with 1 atmosphere of neopentane gas gives an electron temperature of 3 keV and electron density near 0.1 of critical. Detailed LASNEX calculations for these hohlraums and comparisons to the NIF point design will be presented. Comparisons between data and calculations that characterize the plasma conditions (electron, radiation, and ion temperatures, electron density, etc.) in these Nova hohlraums will also be shown.

Computer simulations of laser hot spots and implosion symmetry kiniform phase plate experiments on Nova

LASNEX computer code simulations have been performed for radiation symmetry experiments on the Nova laser with vacuum and gas-filled hohlraum targets [R. L. Kauffman et al., Phys. Plasmas 5, 1927 (1998)]. In previous experiments with unsmoothed laser beams, the symmetry was substantially shifted by deflection of the laser beams. In these experiments, laser beams have been smoothed with Kiniform Phase Plates in an attempt to remove deflection of the beams. The experiments have shown that this smoothing significantly improves the agreement with LASNEX calculations of implosion symmetry. The images of laser produced hot spots on the inside of the hohlraum case have been found to differ from LASNEX calculations, suggesting that some beam deflection or self-focusing may still be present or that emission from interpenetrating plasmas is an important component of the images. The measured neutron yields are in good agreement with simulations for vacuum hohlraums but are far different for gas-filled hohlraums.

Symmetry experiments in gas filled Hohlraums at Nova

Understanding drive symmetry in gas filled hohlraums is currently of interest because the baseline design of the indirect drive ignition target for the planned National Ignition Facility uses a gas filled hohlraum. We report on the results of a series of experiments performed at the Nova laser facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory with the goal of understanding time dependent drive symmetry in gas filled hohlraums. Time dependent symmetry data from implosions in gas filled hohlraums will be discussed. The purpose of filling the hohlraum with gas is to tamp the motion of the high‐Z material ablating from the hohlraum walls, reducing the motion of the laser deposition regions and resultant temporal variations in drive symmetry. We have obtained time integrated and time resolved x‐ray images of the implosion of plastic deuterium filled capsules, neutron yields, implosion times and spectroscopy of argon emission from the imploded core. Preliminary results show that the gas is effective in impedin...