L. V. Powers

Laser–plasma interactions in ignition‐scale hohlraum plasmas

Scattering of laser light by stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) is a concern for indirect drive inertial confinement fusion (ICF). The hohlraum designs for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) raise particular concerns due to the large scale and homogeneity of the plasmas within them. Experiments at Nova have studied laser–plasma interactions within large scale length plasmas that mimic many of the characteristics of the NIF hohlraum plasmas. Filamentation and scattering of laser light by SBS and SRS have been investigated as a function of beam smoothing and plasma conditions. Narrowly collimated SRS backscatter has been observed from low density, low‐Z, plasmas, which are representative of the plasma filling most of the NIF hohlraum. SBS backscatter is found to occur in the high‐Z plasma of gold ablated from the wall. Both SBS and SRS are observed to be at acceptable levels in experiments using smoothing by spectral dispersion (SSD).

Radiation drive in laser‐heated hohlraums

Nearly 10 years of Nova [E. M. Campbell, Laser Part. Beams 9, 209 (1991)] experiments and analysis have lead to a relatively detailed quantitative and qualitative understanding of radiation drive in laser‐heated hohlraums. Our most successful quantitative modeling tool is two‐dimensional (2‐D) LASNEX numerical simulations [G. B. Zimmerman and W. L. Kruer, Comments Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 2, 51 (1975)]. Analysis of the simulations provides us with insight into the physics of hohlraum drive. In particular we find hohlraum radiation conversion efficiency becomes quite high with longer pulses as the accumulated, high‐Z blow‐off plasma begins to radiate. Extensive Nova experiments corroborate our quantitative and qualitative understanding.

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...

Gas‐filled targets for large scale‐length plasma interaction experiments on Nova

Stimulated Brillouin backscatter from large scale‐length gas‐filled targets has been measured on the Nova laser. These targets were designed to approximate conditions in indirect drive ignition target designs in underdense plasma electron density (ne∼1021/cm3), temperature (Te≳3 keV), and gradient scale lengths (Ln∼2 mm, Lv≳6 mm) as well as calculated gain for stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). The targets used in these experiments were gas‐filled balloons with polyimide walls (gasbags) and gas‐filled hohlraums. Detailed characterization using x‐ray imaging and x‐ray and optical spectroscopy verifies that the calculated plasma conditions are achieved. Time‐resolved SBS backscatter from these targets is <3% for conditions similar to ignition target designs.

Improved gas-filled hohlraum performance on Nova with beam smoothing

Gas-filled hohlraums are presently the base line ignition target design for the National Ignition Facility. Initial Nova [E. M. Campbell et al. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 57, 2101 (1986).] experiments on gas-filled hohlraums showed that radiation temperature was reduced due to stimulated Brillouin and stimulated Raman scattering losses and that implosion symmetry had shifted compared with vacuum hohlraums and calculations. Subsequent single beam experiments imaging thermal x-ray emission showed the shift is due to laser–plasma heating dynamics and filamentation in a flowing plasma. Experiments using a single beam have shown that scattering losses and effects of filamentation are reduced when the beam is spatially smoothed with a random phase plate or kinoform phase plate. Scattering is further reduced to less than 5% of the incident laser energy when temporal smoothing is added.

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...

Propagation of realistic beams in underdense plasma

The effect of beam structure on propagation through underdense plasma is examined in two different examples. First, it is shown that the distribution of intensities within a laser beam affects how the beam deflects in the presence of transverse plasma flow. A detailed analysis of beam deflection shows that the rate scales linearly with intensity and plasma density, and inversely with plasma temperature. When the plasma flow is subsonic, the deflection rate is proportional to the ion damping decrement, and scales as M/(1 - M{sup 2}){sup 3/2}, where M is the transverse flow Mach number. When the plasma flow is supersonic, the deflection rate scales as 1/[M(M{sup 2} - 1){sup 1/2}]. Next, the effect of beam structure on channel formation by very intense laser beer is studied. A diffraction-limited beam with 40 TW of input power forms a channel through 4OOpm of plasma, whereas when this beam is phase aberrated, channel formation does not occur.

Strongly driven laser-plasma coupling

An improved understanding of strongly driven laser-plasma coupling is important for optimal use of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) for both inertial fusion and for a variety of advanced applications. Such applications range from high-energy x-ray sources and high-temperature hohlraums to fast ignition and laser radiography. We discuss a novel model for the scaling of strongly driven stimulated Brillouin and Raman scattering. This model postulates an intensity-dependent correlation length associated with spatial incoherence due to filamentation and stimulated forward scattering. We first describe the model and then relate it to a variety of experiments. Particular attention is paid to high-temperature hohlraum experiments, which exhibit low to modest stimulated Brillouin scattering even though this instability is strongly driven. We also briefly discuss the strongly nonlinear interaction physics for efficient generation of high-energy electrons either by irradiating a large plasma with near quarter-critical density or by irradiating overdense targets with ultra-intense laser light.

USE OF LARGE SCALE-LENGTH PLASMAS TO STUDY PARAMETRIC PLASMA INSTABILITIES

Abstract Apart from their intrinsic interest, plasma physics processes are important because they affect the coupling of the laser energy into laser-irradiated targets. Recently, new gas-filled targets have been developed to create large mm-size plasmas for the study of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS). We present x-ray images and x-ray spectra to characterize these targets, which show that the plasmas are homogeneous, have electron densities of ~10 21 cm −3 , and attain electron temperatures of ~3 keV. We also give SBS measurements to demonstrate how systematic studies of physical phenomena can be performed using these targets.

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...