T. Iwawaki

Fast ignition integrated experiments with Gekko and LFEX lasers

Based on the successful result of fast heating of a shell target with a cone for heating beam injection at Osaka University in 2002 using the PW laser (Kodama et al 2002 Nature 418 933), the FIREX-1 project was started in 2004. Its goal is to demonstrate fuel heating up to 5 keV using an upgraded heating laser beam. For this purpose, the LFEX laser, which can deliver an energy up to10 kJ in a 0.5–20 ps pulse at its full spec, has been constructed in addition to the Gekko-XII laser system at the Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University. It has been activated and became operational since 2009. Following the previous experiment with the PW laser, upgraded integrated experiments of fast ignition have been started using the LFEX laser with an energy up to 1 kJ in 2009 and 2 kJ in 2010 in a 1–5 ps 1.053 µm pulse. Experimental results including implosion of the shell target by Gekko-XII, heating of the imploded fuel core by LFEX laser injection, and increase of the neutron yield due to fast heating compared with no heating have been achieved. Results in the 2009 experiment indicated that the heating efficiency was 3–5%, much lower than the 20–30% expected from the previous 2002 data. It was attributed to the very hot electrons generated in a long scale length plasma in the cone preformed with a prepulse in the LFEX beam. The prepulse level was significantly reduced in the 2010 experiment to improve the heating efficiency. Also we have improved the plasma diagnostics significantly which enabled us to observe the plasma even in the hard x-ray harsh environment. In the 2010 experiment, we have observed neutron enhancement up to 3.5 × 107 with total heating energy of 300 J on the target, which is higher than the yield obtained in the 2009 experiment and the previous data in 2002. We found the estimated heating efficiency to be at a level of 10–20%. 5 keV heating is expected at the full output of the LFEX laser by controlling the heating efficiency.

Development of multi-channel electron spectrometer

In order to obtain the angular dependent electron energy distributions, we developed a multichannel electron spectrometer (MCESM) with high energy and angular resolutions. The MCESM consists of seven small electron spectrometers set in every 5° on the basement, each of which detection range is up to 25 MeV. In the experiment, we successfully obtained electron spectra from imploded cone-shell target as well as gold plane target irradiated by ultraintense (300 J/5 ps) laser beam.

Density and temperature characterization of long-scale length, near-critical density controlled plasma produced from ultra-low density plastic foam.

The ability to produce long-scale length (i.e. millimeter scale-length), homogeneous plasmas is of interest in studying a wide range of fundamental plasma processes. We present here a validated experimental platform to create and diagnose uniform plasmas with a density close or above the critical density. The target consists of a polyimide tube filled with an ultra low-density plastic foam where it was heated by x-rays, produced by a long pulse laser irradiating a copper foil placed at one end of the tube. The density and temperature of the ionized foam was retrieved by using x-ray radiography and proton radiography was used to verify the uniformity of the plasma. Plasma temperatures of 5–10 eV and densities around 1021 cm−3 are measured. This well-characterized platform of uniform density and temperature plasma is of interest for experiments using large-scale laser platforms conducting High Energy Density Physics investigations.

Collimated fast electron beam generation in critical density plasma

Significantly collimated fast electron beam with a divergence angle 10° (FWHM) is observed when an ultra-intense laser pulse (I = 1014 W/cm2, 300 fs) irradiates a uniform critical density plasma. The uniform plasma is created through the ionization of an ultra-low density (5 mg/c.c.) plastic foam by X-ray burst from the interaction of intense laser (I = 1014 W/cm2, 600 ps) with a thin Cu foil. 2D Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulation well reproduces the collimated electron beam with a strong magnetic field in the region of the laser pulse propagation. To understand the physical mechanism of the collimation, we calculate energetic electron motion in the magnetic field obtained from the 2D PIC simulation. As the results, the strong magnetic field (300 MG) collimates electrons with energy over a few MeV. This collimation mechanism may attract attention in many applications such as electron acceleration, electron microscope and fast ignition of laser fusion.

Measuring the strong electrostatic and magnetic fields with proton radiography for ultra-high intensity laser channeling on fast ignitiona)

In order to investigate the intense laser propagation and channel formation in dense plasma, we conducted an experiment with proton deflectometry on the OMEGA EP Laser facility. The proton image was analyzed by tracing the trajectory of mono-energetic protons, which provides understanding the electric and magnetic fields that were generated around the channel. The estimated field strengths (E ∼ 10(11) V/m and B ∼ 10(8) G) agree with the predictions from 2D-Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, indicating the feasibility of the proton deflectometry technique for over-critical density plasma.

Stopping and transport of fast electrons in superdense matter

Studied is the stopping and transport of relativistic fast electrons in the vicinity of compressed dense plasma core relevant to fast ignition. Electromagnetic cascade Monte-Carlo is coupled to 2D-PIC simulation. The 2D PIC simulates input electron energy spectrum and angular dependence. The electron energy distributions after passing through the plasma core are calculated at different viewing angles, which well agree with the experiment below several MeV energy range. The implications of calculated results as to collisional damping on several MeV electrons are discussed with the theory based on the stopping power model. The spatial distribution of plasma temperature is also estimated via deposited energy by fast electrons, showing the strong heating at the core surface.

Propagation of intense short-pulse laser in homogeneous near-critical density plasmas

Ultra intense laser light propagation in a homogeneous overdense plasma was investigated using a plastic foam target filling a polyimide tube. Laser propagation into overdense plasma was measured via Doppler red shift of the reflected laser light from the moving plasma at 0.3-0.4 of speed of light. We also observed strongly collimated electron beam possibly caused by the magnetic field surrounding the plasma channel, and high energy X-rays emitted via synchrotron radiation by the oscillating electrons inside the channel. These features imply that UIL propagates inside the overdense plasma as predicted in PIC calculation, and are very important for direct irradiation scheme of fast ignition.

Analysis of plasma channels in mm-scale plasmas formed by high intensity laser beams

A plasma channel created by a high intensity infrared laser beam was observed in a long scale-length plasma (L ~ 240 μm) with the angular filter refractometry technique, which indicated a stable channel formation up to the critical density. We analyzed the observed plasma channel using a rigorous ray-tracing technique, which provides a deep understanding of the evolution of the channel formation.

Efficient propagation of ultra-intense laser beam in dense plasma

Ultra intense laser propagation in extended, dense plasma is investigated through optical and proton probing. When a >1 kJ, 10 ps laser propagates into a long-density scale length plasma, channel formation was observed up to 0.6 nc from the analysis of optical probe images. The proton track analysis shows the formation of strong electric and magnetic fields along the plasma channel, which may lead to the observed collimated electron beam on the laser axis. These results are promising for the feasibility of the direct irradiation scheme of fast ignition.