F.J. Wysocki

The effects of laser absorption on direct-drive capsule experiments at OMEGA

The yield of an inertial confinement fusion capsule can be greatly affected by the inclusion of high-Z material in the fuel, either intentionally as a diagnostic or from mixing due to hydrodynamic instabilities. To validate calculations of these conditions, glass shell targets filled with a D2 and 3He fuel mixture were fielded in experiments with controlled amounts of pre-mixed Ar, Kr, or Xe. The experiments were fielded at the OMEGA laser [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] using 1.0 ns square laser pulses having a total energy 23 kJ and direct drive illumination of shells with an outer diameter of ∼925 μm and a thickness of ∼5 μm. Data were collected and compared to one-dimensional integrated models for yield and burn-temperature measurements. This paper presents a critical examination of the calculational assumptions used in our experimental modeling. A modified treatment of laser-capsule interaction improves the match to the measured scattered laser light and also improves agreement fo...

Development of a polar direct-drive platform for studying inertial confinement fusion implosion mix on the National Ignition Facilitya)

Experiments were performed to develop a platform for the simultaneous measurement of mix and its effects on fusion burn. Two polar direct drive implosions of all-plastic capsules were conducted for the first time on the National Ignition Facility (NIF). To measure implosion trajectory and symmetry, area image backlighting of these capsules was also employed for the first time on NIF, an advance over previous 1-D slit imaging experiments, providing detailed symmetry data of the capsules as they imploded. The implosion trajectory and low-mode asymmetry seen in the resultant radiographs agreed with pre-shot predictions even though the 700 kJ drive energy produced laser beam intensities exceeding laser-plasma instability thresholds. Post-shot simulations indicate that the capsule yield was reduced by a factor of two compared to pre-shot predictions owing to as-shot laser drive asymmetries. The pre-shot predictions of bang time agreed within 200 ps with the experimental results. The second shot incorporated a narrow groove encircling the equator of the capsule. A predicted yield reduction factor of three was not observed.

Role of shocks and mix caused by capsule defects

An Eulerian code with a turbulent mix model is used to model a set of plastic (CH) ablator capsules with and without equatorial grooves. The “perfect” capsule results were used to calibrate simulations of capsules with equatorial grooves of different depths that provided information on increasingly perturbed implosions. Simulations with a turbulence model were able to calculate the same yield over mix (YOM) ratio (experiment/mix simulation) of 0.2 to 0.3 for thin (8-μm thick) and thick shell (15-μm thick) capsules with no grooves and thin capsules with shallow grooves. When the capsules have deep grooves, the YOM ratio increases to greater than unity, probably because the deformed shocks focus too strongly on the symmetry axis in our two-dimensional simulations. This is supported by a comparison of simulated and experimental x-ray images.

The effects of pre-mix on burn in ICF capsules

Directly driven implosions at the Omega laser have tested the effects of pre-mix of Ar, Kr, and Xe in D2 + 3 He filled glass micro-balloons. Diagnostics included: D+D and D+T neutron yields, D+ 3 He proton yields and spectra, Doppler broadened ion temperatures, time dependent neutron and proton burn rates, and time gated, high energy filtered, X-ray images. Yields are better calculated by XSN LTE than by non-LTE. Yields with a small amount of pre- mix, atom fractions of ~5e-3 for Ar, 2e-3 Kr, and Xe for 5e-4, are more degraded than calculated, while the measured ion temperatures are the same as without pre-mix. There is also a decrease in fuel ρr. The neutron burn histories suggest that the early yield coming before the reflected shock strikes the incoming shell is un-degraded, with yield degradation occurring afterwards. Adding 20 atm % 3 He to pure D fuel seems to produce a similar degradation. Calculated gated X-ray images agree with observed when the reflected shock strikes the incoming shell, but are smaller than observed afterward. This partially explains yield degradation and both the low fuel and whole capsule ρrs observed in secondary T+D neutrons and slowing of the D+ 3 He protons. Neither LTE on non-LTE captures the degradation by 3 He or at low pre-mix levels, nor matches the large shell radii after impact of the reflected shock.

Asymmetric directly driven capsule implosions: Modeling and experiments—A requirement for the National Ignition Facility

Direct-drive experiments at the University of Rochesters OMEGA laser [T. R. Boehly, R. L. McCrory, C. P. Verdon et al., Fusion Eng. Des. 44, 35 (1999)] have been performed to prototype eventual campaigns on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [E. I. Moses and C. R. Wuest, Fusion Sci. Technol. 43, 420 (2003)] to investigate the mixing of target materials. Spherical-implosion targets with equatorial defects have been irradiated with polar direct drive, a requirement for direct-drive experiments at NIF. The physics question addressed by these results is whether simulations can match data on 0th-order hydrodynamics and implosion symmetry, the most basic implosion features, with and without the defect. The successful testing of hydrodynamic simulations leads to better designs for experiments and guides accurate planning for polar-direct-drive-ignition studies on the NIF platform.

Systematic Fuel Cavity Asymmetries in Directly Driven Inertial Confinement Fusion Implosions

We present narrow-band self-emission x-ray images from a titanium tracer layer placed at the fuel-shell interface in 60-laser-beam implosion experiments at the OMEGA facility. The images are acquired during deceleration with inferred convergences of ∼9-14. Novel here is that a systematically observed asymmetry of the emission is linked, using full sphere 3D implosion modeling, to performance-limiting low mode asymmetry of the drive.

Magnetic field measurements inside a converging flux conserver for magnetized target fusion applications

Abstract Two experiments showing continuous, real-time measurements of the radial convergence of a high-aspect-ratio aluminum flux conserver are presented. These results were obtained by measuring the compression of both axial and radial components of an internal low-intensity magnetic field. Repeatable flux conserver compressions of this type, uniform to 10:1 compression ratio, form a step toward achieving magnetized target fusion, where a plasma of appropriate temperature and density would be introduced into the flux conserver for compression to fusion conditions. While X radiographs show this compression ratio was achieved, the magnetic field probe signals were cut off earlier. Axial component measurements resulted in compression ratios of 7:1 and 6.3:1, for the first and second compressions, before the magnetic probe signals were lost. Radial component measurements disagree with the axial probe results. Although the discrepancy between axial and radial probe measurements is not completely understood, possible explanations are presented.

Constraining fundamental plasma physics processes using doped capsule implosions

A standard technique in inertial confinement fusion research is the use of low levels of spectroscopic dopants as a passive diagnostic of fuel conditions. Using higher dopant levels it becomes possible to modify the plasma conditions. Doped capsule experiments may thus provide a way to control and study fundamental plasma physics processes in the inertial fusion regime. As a precursor to eventual experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) we have performed a series of capsule implosions using the Omega laser. These are intended to guide the modelling of high-Z dopants and explore the feasibility of using such capsule implosions for quantitative physics experiments. We have fielded thin glass shells filled with D-He3 fuel and varying levels of Ar, Kr and Xe dopants. X-ray emission spectroscopy is combined with simultaneous measurements of primary neutron and proton yields and energy spectra in an attempt to fully constrain capsule behaviour.

Effects of preheat and mix on the fuel adiabat of an imploding capsule

We demonstrate the effect of preheat, hydrodynamic mix and vorticity on the adiabat of the deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel in fusion capsule experiments. We show that the adiabat of the DT fuel increases resulting from hydrodynamic mixing due to the phenomenon of entropy of mixture. An upper limit of mix, Mclean/MDT ≥ 0.98, is found necessary to keep the DT fuel on a low adiabat. We demonstrate in this study that the use of a high adiabat for the DT fuel in theoretical analysis and with the aid of 1D code simulations could explain some aspects of 3D effects and mix in capsule implosion. Furthermore, we can infer from our physics model and the observed neutron images the adiabat of the DT fuel in the capsule and the amount of mix produced on the hot spot.

Modelling of collective Thomson scattering from collisional plasmas

Anomalous broadening of ion-acoustic modes has been observed using collective Thomson scattering from both the electron plasma and ion-acoustic waves in ion-collisional plasmas. Ion-acoustic waves may be broadened by Landau damping, plasma inhomogeneities and instrumental effects. A model was constructed to calculate the contribution of these effects based upon spatially and spectrally resolved measurements of collective Thomson scattering. Collisional broadening effects were then calculated using a modification of the Mermin formalism. The computational model was used to interpret experimental measurements of collisional damping rates in dense, moderately coupled, plasmas. Collisional broadening is weakly dependent of ion-acoustic frequency in nearly isothermal plasmas; and therefore collective Thomson scattering can be used as a measurement technique for collisional damping rates provided all additional broadening mechanisms are taken into account. This paper further demonstrates that modelling of collective Thomson scattering from ion-collisional ion-acoustic modes must account for inhomogeneities, Landau damping, and collisions in order to evaluate plasma parameters, such as temperature and average ionization.