[en] The objective of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) program is to demonstrate the scientific feasibility of ICF for military applications (to develop and utilize the capability to study nuclear weapons physics in support of the weapons program) and for energy-directed uses in the civilian sector. The demonstration of scientific feasibility for both military and civilian objectives will require achieving gains on the order of 10 to 100 in fusion microexplosions. Our major near-term milestones include the attainment of high compression, one-hundred to one-thousand times (100 to 1000X) liquid D-T density in the thermonuclear fuel and ignition of thermonuclear burn. In 1979, our laser fusion experiments and analysis programs focused on two important areas related to achieving this goal: conducting x-ray-driven implosions of a variety of D-T-filled fuel capsule's to unprecedented high densities (∼> 50X liquid D-T density) and the determination of the scaling of hot electrons and thermal radiation in hohlraums

No abstract available

[en] There has been rapid progress in inertial fusion in the past few years. This progress spans the construction of ignition facilities, a wide range of target concepts, and the pursuit of integrated programs to develop fusion energy using lasers, ion beams and z-pinches. Two ignition facilities are under construction (NIF in the U.S. and LMJ in France) and both projects are progressing toward an initial experimental capability. The LIL prototype beamline for LMJ and the first 4 beams of NIF will be available for experiments in 2003. The full 192 beam capability of NIF will be available in 2009 and ignition experiments are expected to begin shortly after that time. There is steady progress in the target science and target fabrication in preparation for indirect drive ignition experiments on NIF. Advanced target designs may lead to 5-10 times more yield than initial target designs. There has also been excellent progress on the science of ion beam and z-pinch driven indirect drive targets. Excellent progress on direct-drive targets has been obtained on the Omega laser at the University of Rochester. This includes improved performance of targets with a pulse shape predicted to result in reduced hydrodynamic instability. Rochester has also obtained encouraging results from initial cryogenic implosions. There is widespread interest in the science of fast ignition because of its potential for achieving higher target gain with lower driver energy and relaxed target fabrication requirements. Researchers from Osaka have achieved outstanding implosion and heating results from the Gekko XII Petawatt facility and implosions suitable for fast ignition have been tested on the Omega laser. A broad based program to develop lasers and ions beams for IFE is under way with excellent progress in drivers, chambers, target fabrication and target injection. KrF and Diode Pumped Solid-State lasers (DPSSL) are being developed in conjunction with drywall chambers and direct drive targets. Induction accelerators for heavy ions are being developed in conjunction with thick-liquid protected wall chambers and indirect-drive targets

[en] For high repetition-rate fusion power plant applications, capsules with aerogel-supported liquid DT fuel can have much reduced fill time compared to β-layering a solid DT fuel layer. The melting point of liquid DT can be lowered once liquid DT is embedded in an aerogel matrix, and the DT vapor density is consequently closer to the desired density for optimal capsule design requirement. We present design for NIF-scale aerogel-filled capsules based on 1-D and 2-D simulations. An optimal configuration is obtained when the outer radius is increased until the clean fuel fraction is within 65 - 75% at peak velocity. A scan (in ablator and fuel thickness parameter space) is used to optimize the capsule configurations. The optimized aerogel-filled capsule has good low-mode robustness and acceptable high-mode mix. (authors)

[en] Coupling efficiency, the ratio of the capsule absorbed energy to the driver energy, is a key parameter in ignition targets. The hohlraum originally proposed for NIF coupled ∼11% of the absorbed laser energy to the capsule as x-rays. We describe here a second generation of hohlraum target which has higher coupling efficiency, ∼16%. Because the ignition capsule's ability to withstand 3D effects increases rapidly with absorbed energy, the additional energy can significantly increase the likelihood of ignition. The new target includes laser entrance hole (LEH) shields as a principal method for increasing coupling efficiency while controlling symmetry in indirect-drive ICF. The LEH shields are high Z disks placed inside the hohlraum to block the capsule's view of the cold LEHs. The LEH shields can reduce the amount of laser energy required to drive a target to a given temperature via two mechanisms: (1) keeping the temperature high near the capsule pole by putting a barrier between the capsule and the pole, (2) because the capsule pole does not have a view of the cold LEHs, good symmetry requires a shorter hohlraum with less wall area. Current integrated simulations of this class of target couple 140 kJ of x-rays to a capsule out of 865 kJ of absorbed laser energy and produce ∼10 MJ of yield. In the current designs, which are not completely optimized, the addition of the LEH shields saves ∼95 kJ of energy (about 10%) over hohlraums without LEH shields

[en] Recent ignition target design effort has emphasized systematic exploration of the parameter space of possible ignition targets, providing as specific as possible comparisons between the various targets. This is to provide guidance for target fabrication R and D, and for the other elements of the ignition program. Targets are being considered that span 250-300 eV drive temperatures, capsule energies from 150 to 600 kJ, cocktail and gold hohlraum spectra, and three ablator materials (Be[Cu], CH[Ge], and polyimide). Capsules with graded doped beryllium ablators are being found to be very stable with respect to short-wavelength Rayleigh-Taylor growth. Sensitivity to ablator roughness, ice roughness, and asymmetry is being explored, as it depends on ablator material, drive temperature, and absorbed energy. Special features being simulated include fill holes, fill tubes, and capsule support tents. Three-dimensional simulations are being used to ensure adequate radiation symmetry in 3D, and to ensure that coupling of 3D asymmetry and 3D Rayleigh-Taylor does not adversely affect planned performance. Integrated 3D hohlraum simulations indicate that 3D features in the laser illumination pattern affect the hohlraums' performance, and the hohlraum is being redesigned to accommodate these effects

[en] We present five ignition scale capsule designs using high-density carbon ablators with fuel adiabat (α) ranging from 1.5 to 4. All five have 1D yield > 1 MJ. The sensitivities of these capsules to surface roughness and P₂ radiation asymmetries were studied. The most robust configuration with respect to surface roughness depends on the amplitude of the surface spectrum. The most robust configuration with respect to P₂ asymmetry is the α = 1.5 configuration which has the highest 1D margin. We find that α = 2 and 2.5 configurations have the highest overall robustness. Further analysis is needed to study the effects of more complicated 3D behaviors. (paper)

[en] Indirectly driven capsule implosions on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [Moses et al., Phys. Plasmas 16, 041006 (2009)] are being performed with the goal of compressing a layer of cryogenic deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel to a sufficiently high areal density (ρR) to sustain the self-propagating burn wave that is required for fusion power gain greater than unity. These implosions are driven with a temporally shaped laser pulse that is carefully tailored to keep the DT fuel on a low adiabat (ratio of fuel pressure to the Fermi degenerate pressure). In this report, the impact of variations in the laser pulse shape (both intentionally and unintentionally imposed) on the in-flight implosion adiabat is examined by comparing the measured shot-to-shot variations in ρR from a large ensemble of DT-layered ignition target implosions on NIF spanning a two-year period. A strong sensitivity to variations in the early-time, low-power foot of the laser pulse is observed. It is shown that very small deviations (∼0.1% of the total pulse energy) in the first 2 ns of the laser pulse can decrease the measured ρR by 50%

[en] Radiative hydrodynamics simulations of ignition experiments show that energy transfer between crossing laser beams allows tuning of the implosion symmetry. A new full-scale, three-dimensional quantitative model has been developed for crossed-beam energy transfer, allowing calculations of the propagation and coupling of multiple laser beams and their associated plasma waves in ignition hohlraums. This model has been implemented in a radiative-hydrodynamics code, demonstrating control of the implosion symmetry by a wavelength separation between cones of laser beams

[en] The full scale modeling of power transfer between laser beams crossing in plasmas is presented. A new model was developed, allowing calculations of the propagation and coupling of pairs of laser beams with their associated plasma wave in three dimensions. The complete set of laser beam smoothing techniques used in ignition experiments is modeled and their effects on crossed-beam energy transfer are investigated. A shift in wavelength between the beams can move the instability in or out of resonance and hence allows tuning of the energy transfer. The effects of energy transfer on the effective beam pointing and on symmetry have been investigated. Several ignition designs have been analyzed and compared, indicating that a wavelength shift of up to 2 A between cones of beams should be sufficient to control energy transfer in ignition experiments.