S. P. Hatchett

Energetic proton generation in ultra-intense laser–solid interactions

An explanation for the energetic ions observed in the PetaWatt experiments is presented. In solid target experiments with focused intensities exceeding 1020 W/cm2, high-energy electron generation, hard bremsstrahlung, and energetic protons have been observed on the backside of the target. In this report, an attempt is made to explain the physical process present that will explain the presence of these energetic protons, as well as explain the number, energy, and angular spread of the protons observed in experiment. In particular, we hypothesize that hot electrons produced on the front of the target are sent through to the back off the target, where they ionize the hydrogen layer there. These ions are then accelerated by the hot electron cloud, to tens of MeV energies in distances of order tens of μm, whereupon they end up being detected in the radiographic and spectrographic detectors.

Point design targets, specifications, and requirements for the 2010 ignition campaign on the National Ignition Facility

Point design targets have been specified for the initial ignition campaign on the National Ignition Facility [G. H. Miller, E. I. Moses, and C. R. Wuest, Opt. Eng. 443, 2841 (2004)]. The targets contain D-T fusion fuel in an ablator of either CH with Ge doping, or Be with Cu. These shells are imploded in a U or Au hohlraum with a peak radiation temperature set between 270 and 300 eV. Considerations determining the point design include laser-plasma interactions, hydrodynamic instabilities, laser operations, and target fabrication. Simulations were used to evaluate choices, and to define requirements and specifications. Simulation techniques and their experimental validation are summarized. Simulations were used to estimate the sensitivity of target performance to uncertainties and variations in experimental conditions. A formalism is described that evaluates margin for ignition, summarized in a parameter the Ignition Threshold Factor (ITF). Uncertainty and shot-to-shot variability in ITF are evaluated, and...

Hot electron production and heating by hot electrons in fast ignitor research

In an experimental study of the physics of fast ignition the characteristics of the hot electron source at laser intensities up to 10(to the 20th power) Wcm{sup -2} and the heating produced at depth by hot electrons have been measured. Efficient generation of hot electrons but less than the anticipated heating have been observed.

Review of progress in Fast Ignition

Marshall Rosenbluth’s extensive contributions included seminal analysis of the physics of the laser-plasma interaction and review and advocacy of the inertial fusion program. Over the last decade he avidly followed the efforts of many scientists around the world who have studied Fast Ignition, an alternate form of inertial fusion. In this scheme, the fuel is first compressed by a conventional inertial confinement fusion driver and then ignited by a short (∼10ps) pulse, high-power laser. Due to technological advances, such short-pulse lasers can focus power equivalent to that produced by the hydrodynamic stagnation of conventional inertial fusion capsules. This review will discuss the ignition requirements and gain curves starting from simple models and then describe how these are modified, as more detailed physics understanding is included. The critical design issues revolve around two questions: How can the compressed fuel be efficiently assembled? And how can power from the driver be delivered efficient...

The experimental plan for cryogenic layered target implosions on the National Ignition Facility—The inertial confinement approach to fusion

Ignition requires precisely controlled, high convergence implosions to assemble a dense shell of deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel with ρR>∼1 g/cm2 surrounding a 10 keV hot spot with ρR ∼ 0.3 g/cm2. A working definition of ignition has been a yield of ∼1 MJ. At this yield the α-particle energy deposited in the fuel would have been ∼200 kJ, which is already ∼10 × more than the kinetic energy of a typical implosion. The National Ignition Campaign includes low yield implosions with dudded fuel layers to study and optimize the hydrodynamic assembly of the fuel in a diagnostics rich environment. The fuel is a mixture of tritium-hydrogen-deuterium (THD) with a density equivalent to DT. The fraction of D can be adjusted to control the neutron yield. Yields of ∼1014−15 14 MeV (primary) neutrons are adequate to diagnose the hot spot as well as the dense fuel properties via down scattering of the primary neutrons. X-ray imaging diagnostics can function in this low yield environment providing additional information about ...

High energy electrons, nuclear phenomena and heating in petawatt laser-solid experiments

The Petawatt laser at LLNL has opened a new regime of laser-matter interactions in which the quiver motion of plasma electrons is fully relativistic with energies extending well above the threshold for nuclear processes. In addition to -few MeV ponderomotive electrons produced in ultra-intense laser-solid interactions, we have found a high energy component of electrons extending to -100 MeV apparently from relativistic self-focusing and plasma acceleration in the underdense pre-formed plasma. The generation of hard bremsstrahlung, photo-nuclear reactions, and preliminary evidence for positron-electron pair production will be discussed.

Proton radiography as an electromagnetic field and density perturbation diagnostic (invited)

Laser driven proton beams have been used to diagnose transient fields and density perturbations in laser produced plasmas. Grid deflectometry techniques have been applied to proton radiography to obtain precise measurements of proton beam angles caused by electromagnetic fields in laser produced plasmas. Application of proton radiography to laser driven implosions has demonstrated that density conditions in compressed media can be diagnosed with million electron volt protons. This data has shown that proton radiography can provide unique insight into transient electromagnetic fields in super critical density plasmas and provide a density perturbation diagnostics in compressed matter.

High-resolution 17–75keV backlighters for high energy density experiments

We have developed 17 keV to 75 keV 1-dimensional and 2-dimensional high-resolution ( 10{sup 17} W/cm{sup 2}. We have achieved high resolution point projection 1-dimensional and 2-dimensional radiography using micro-foil and micro-wire targets attached to low-Z substrate materials. The micro-wire size was 10 {micro}m x 10 {micro}m x 300 {micro}m on a 300 {micro}m x 300 {micro}m x 5 {micro}m CH substrate. The radiography performance was demonstrated using the Titan laser at LLNL. We observed that the resolution is dominated by the micro-wire target size and there is very little degradation from the plasma plume, implying that the high energy x-ray photons are generated mostly within the micro-wire volume. We also observe that there are enough K{alpha} photons created with a 300 J, 1-{omega}, 40 ps pulse laser from these small volume targets, and that the signal-to-noise ratio is sufficiently high, for single shot radiography experiments. This unique technique will be used on future high energy density (HED) experiments at the new Omega-EP, ZR and NIF facilities.

Neutron spectrometry--an essential tool for diagnosing implosions at the National Ignition Facility (invited).

DT neutron yield (Y(n)), ion temperature (T(i)), and down-scatter ratio (dsr) determined from measured neutron spectra are essential metrics for diagnosing the performance of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). A suite of neutron-time-of-flight (nTOF) spectrometers and a magnetic recoil spectrometer (MRS) have been implemented in different locations around the NIF target chamber, providing good implosion coverage and the complementarity required for reliable measurements of Y(n), T(i), and dsr. From the measured dsr value, an areal density (ρR) is determined through the relationship ρR(tot) (g∕cm(2)) = (20.4 ± 0.6) × dsr(10-12 MeV). The proportionality constant is determined considering implosion geometry, neutron attenuation, and energy range used for the dsr measurement. To ensure high accuracy in the measurements, a series of commissioning experiments using exploding pushers have been used for in situ calibration of the as-built spectrometers, which are now performing to the required accuracy. Recent data obtained with the MRS and nTOFs indicate that the implosion performance of cryogenically layered DT implosions, characterized by the experimental ignition threshold factor (ITFx), which is a function of dsr (or fuel ρR) and Y(n), has improved almost two orders of magnitude since the first shot in September, 2010.

Probing high areal-density cryogenic deuterium-tritium implosions using downscattered neutron spectra measured by the magnetic recoil spectrometer

For the first time high areal-density (ρR) cryogenic deuterium-tritium (DT) implosions have been probed using downscattered neutron spectra measured with the magnetic recoil spectrometer (MRS) [J. A. Frenje et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 79, 10E502 (2008)], recently installed and commissioned on OMEGA [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)]. The ρR data obtained with the MRS have been essential for understanding how the fuel is assembled and for guiding the cryogenic program at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) to ρR values up to ∼300 mg/cm2. The ρR data obtained from well-established charged particle spectrometry techniques [C. K. Li et al., Phys. Plasmas 8, 4902 (2001)] were used to authenticate the MRS data for low-ρR plastic capsule implosions, and the ρR values inferred from these techniques are in excellent agreement, indicating that the MRS technique provides high-fidelity data. Recent OMEGA-MRS data and Monte Carlo simulations have shown that the MRS on the NIF [G. H. Miller et al....