Sun Ke-Xu

Radiation Temperature Scaling Law for Gold Hohlraum Heated with Lasers at 0.35 mm Wavelength

We have carried out the hohlraum experiments about radiation temperature scaling on the Shenguang-II (SG-II) laser facility with eight laser beams of 0.35 μm, pulse duration of about 1.0 ns and total energy of 2000 J. The reradiated x-ray flux through the laser entrance hole was measured using a soft x-ray spectrometer. The measured peak radiation temperature was 170 eV for the standard hohlraum and 150 eV for the 1.5-scaled one. We have derived the radiation temperature scaling law, in which the laser hohlraum coupling efficiency is included. With an appropriate coupling efficiency, the coincidences between experimental and scaling hohlraum radiation temperatures are rather good.

Experiments and analysis of gold disk targets irradiated by smoothing beams of Xingguang II facilities with 350 nm wavelength

Gold disk targets were irradiated using focusing and beam smoothing methods on Xingguang (XG-II) laser facilities with 350 nm wavelength, 0.6 ns pulse width and 20–80 Joules energies. Laser absorption, light scattering and X-ray conversion were experimentally investigated. The experimental results showed that laser absorption and scattered light were about 90% and 10%, respectively, under focusing irradiation, but the laser absorption increased 5%–10% and the scattered light about 1% under the condition of beam smoothing. Compared with the case of focusing irradiation, the laser absorption was effectively improved and the scattered light remarkably dropped under uniform irradiation; then due to the decrease in laser intensity, X-ray conversion increased. This is highly advantageous to the inertial confinement fusion. However, X-ray conversion mechanism basically did not change and X-ray conversion efficiency under beam smoothing and focusing irradiation was basically the same.

Experimental investigation of supersonic radiation propagation in low-density plastic and copper-doped foams

Eight beams of 0.35 μm laser with pulse duration of 1 ns and total energy of 2 kJ enter into a hohlraum to create intense X-ray radiation of 140 eV on the Shenguang II laser facility. Plastic foam (C6H12) and copper-doped foam (C6H12Cu0.394) with a density of 50 mg/cm3 are heated by X-ray radiation emitted from the hohlraum. The breakout time of the radiation wave is measured by a tri-chromatic streaked X-ray spectrometer (TCS) that consists of a set of three imaging pinholes and an array of three transmission gratings coupled with an X-ray streak camera (XSC). At one shot, the simultaneous measurements of the delay of the drive source and the radiation transport at two energies (210 eV, 840 eV) through the foam have been made for the first time. The experimental results indicate that the time delays vary with photon energies. With a transmission grating spectrometer (TGS), the spectra transmitting foams were measured, and the lower limit of the optical depth was measured. The radiation at energy of 210 eV propagates through plastic foam at a faster velocity, compared with the radiation at energy of 840 eV; while the results of copper-doped foam are reverse. The optical depth in the plastic foam is less than 1, and in the doped foam it is more than 1.Eight beams of 0.35 μm laser with pulse duration of 1 ns and total energy of 2 kJ enter into a hohlraum to create intense X-ray radiation of 140 eV on the Shenguang II laser facility. Plastic foam (C6H12) and copper-doped foam (C6H12Cu0.394) with a density of 50 mg/cm3 are heated by X-ray radiation emitted from the hohlraum. The breakout time of the radiation wave is measured by a tri-chromatic streaked X-ray spectrometer (TCS) that consists of a set of three imaging pinholes and an array of three transmission gratings coupled with an X-ray streak camera (XSC). At one shot, the simultaneous measurements of the delay of the drive source and the radiation transport at two energies (210 eV, 840 eV) through the foam have been made for the first time. The experimental results indicate that the time delays vary with photon energies. With a transmission grating spectrometer (TGS), the spectra transmitting foams were measured, and the lower limit of the optical depth was measured. The radiation at energy of 210 eV propagates through plastic foam at a faster velocity, compared with the radiation at energy of 840 eV; while the results of copper-doped foam are reverse. The optical depth in the plastic foam is less than 1, and in the doped foam it is more than 1.

Supersonic Propagation of Heat Waves in Low Density Heavy Material

The propagation of a supersonic heat-wave through copper-doped foam with a density of 50 mg/cm3 was experimentally investigated. The wave is driven by 140 eV Holhraum radiations generated in a cylindrical gold cavity heated by a 2 kJ, 1ns laser pulse (0.35 μm). The delayed breakout time of the radiation waves from the rear side of the foam is measured by a three-chromatic streaked x-ray spectrometer (TCS) consisting of a set of three-imaging pinholes and an array of three transmission gratings coupled with an x-ray streak camera (XSC). With one shot, simultaneous measurements of the delays of the drive source and the radiation with two different energies (210 eV, 840 eV) through the foam have been made for the first time. The experimental results indicate that the time delays vary with photon energies. The radiation with an energy of 210 eV propagates at a lower velocity. The radiating heat wave propagates with a velocity that is larger than the sound speed. Using TGS, the transmitting spectrum was measured, and then lower limit of the optical depth which is more than 1, was obtained. The experimental data were in agreement with numerical simulations.

Radiation Energy Loss from Laser-Heated Shenguang-II Hohlraums

The x ray energy loss out of laser-heated hohlraum through laser entrance holes (LEH) is discussed in detail according to a simple theoretical model and is compared with the hohlraum experimental data measured at Shenguang II laser facility. The radiation loss is considered to be composed of two parts, that is, direct contribution from laser spots and re-emitted part from the x ray-heated hohlraum inner wall, and the former accounts for about 20% of the total loss for the Shenguang II hohlraums. Owing to the non-equilibrium characteristics of laser target coupling the direct contribution part is non-equilibrium in spectrum.