[en] Polar-drive designs are proposed for producing symmetric implosions of thin-shell, DT gas-filled targets leading to high fusion-neutron yields for neutron-diagnostic development. The designs can be implemented as soon as the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [E. M. Campbell and W. J. Hogan, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 41, B39 (1999)] is operational as they use indirect-drive phase plates. Two-dimensional simulations using the hydrodynamics code SAGE [R. S. Craxton and R. L. McCrory, J. Appl. Phys. 56, 108 (1984)] have shown that good low-mode uniformity can be obtained by choosing combinations of pointing and defocusing of the beams, including pointing offsets of individual beams within some of the NIF laser-beam quads. The optimizations have been carried out for total laser energies ranging from 350 kJ to 1.5 MJ, enabling the optimum pointing and defocusing parameters to be determined through interpolation for any given laser energy in this range. Neutron yields in the range of 10¹⁵-10¹⁶ are expected

[en] The need of cryogenic hydrogenic fuels in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) ignition targets has been long been established. Efficient implosion of such targets has mandated keeping the adiabat of the main fuel layer at low levels to ensure drive energies are kept at reasonable minima. The use of cryogenic fuels helps meet this requirement and has therefore become the standard in most ICF ignition designs. To date most theoretical ICF ignition target designs have assumed a homogeneous layer of deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel kept slightly below the triple point. However, recent work has indicated that, as cryogenic fuel layers are formed inside an ICF capsule, isotopic dissociation of the tritium (T), deuterium (D), and DT takes place leading to a 'fractionation' of the final ice layer. This paper will numerically investigate the effects that various scenarios of fractionation have on hot-spot formation, ignition, and burn in ICF ignition target designs

[en] The distributed phase plate (DPP) design code Zhizhoo ’ has been used to design full- aperture, continuous near-field transmission optics for a wide variety of high-fidelity focal-spot shapes for high-energy laser systems: OMEGA EP, Dynamic Compression Sector (DCS), and the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The envelope shape, or profile, of the focal spot affects the hydrodynamics of directly driven targets in these laser systems. Controlling the envelope shape to a high degree of fidelity impacts the quality of the ablatively driven implosions. The code Zhizhoo ’ not only produces DPP's with great control of the envelope shape, but also spectral and gradient control as well as robustness from near-field phase aberrations. The focal-spot shapes can take on almost any profile from symmetric to irregular patterns and with high fidelity relative to the objective function over many decades of intensity. The control over the near-field phase spectrum and phase gradients offer greater manufacturability of the full- aperture continuous surface-relief pattern. The flexibility and speed of the DPP design code Zhizhoo ’ will be demonstrated by showing the wide variety of successful designs that have been made and those that are in progress. (paper)

[en] Wetted-foam, direct-drive target designs are a path to high-gain experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [J. Paisner et al., Laser Focus World 30, 75 (1994)]. Wetted-foam designs [S. Skupsky et al., in Inertial Fusion Sciences and Applications 2001, edited by K. Tanaka, D. D. Meyerhofer, and J. Meyer-ter-Vehn (Elsevier, Paris, 2002)] take advantage of the increased laser absorption provided by the higher-atomic-number elements in a target ablator composed of plastic foam saturated with deuterium-tritium (DT). The increased laser coupling allows more fuel to be driven with the same incident laser energy, resulting in increased hydrodynamic stability and target gain. A stability analysis of a 1-MJ design was performed using the two-dimensional hydrodynamic code DRACO [P. B. Radha et al., Phys. Plasmas 12, 032702 (2005)]. Simulations examining the effect of the expected levels of laser nonuniformities (single-beam and multiple-beam) and target nonuniformities (surface and ice roughness) have been performed. A nonuniformity-budget analysis has been constructed and suggests that two-dimensional (2D) smoothing by spectral dispersion (SSD) [S. Skupsky et al., J. Appl. Phys. 66, 3456 (1989)] is needed to reduce single-beam nonuniformities to levels sufficient for ignition to proceed. Two integrated 2D simulations with 0.75-μm initial ice roughness, multiple-beam nonuniformity, surface roughness, and imprint were completed, one with 2D SSD smoothing and one with 1D SSD. The former ignited and produced a gain of 32, while the latter failed to ignite. A third integrated 2D simulation with 1-μm initial ice roughness and an ice power-law spectral index of 1 was also completed and produced a gain of 27

[en] Polar direct drive (PDD) makes it possible to perform direct-drive-ignition experiments at the National Ignition Facility while the facility is configured for x-ray drive. We present the first PDD ignition-relevant target designs to include the physical effects of crossbeam energy transfer (CBET) and nonlocal heat transport, both of which substantially affect the target drive. In the PDD configuration, a multiwavelength detuning strategy was found to be effective in mitigating the loss of coupling caused by CBET, allowing for implosion speeds comparable to those of previous designs. Two designs are described: a high-adiabat alpha-burning design and a lower-adiabat ignition design. (paper)

[en] The compression of planar plastic targets was studied with x-ray radiography in the range of laser intensities of I∼0.5 to 1.5x10¹⁵ W/cm² using square (low-compression) and shaped (high-compression) pulses. Two-dimensional simulations with the radiative hydrocode DRACO show good agreement with measurements at laser intensities up to I∼10¹⁵ W/cm². These results provide the first experimental evidence for low-entropy, adiabatic compression of plastic shells in the laser intensity regime relevant to direct-drive inertial confinement fusion. A density reduction near the end of the drive at a high intensity of I∼1.5x10¹⁵ W/cm² has been correlated with the hard x-ray signal caused by hot electrons from two-plasmon-decay instability

[en] In thick shell implosions, most of the kinetic energy is used to assemble the cold fuel rather than to heat the hot spot. A significant increase in the hot-spot compression and reduction of the driver energy required for ignition can be accomplished by launching a shock during the final stage of the implosion. In direct-drive inertial confinement fusion (ICF), the 'ignitor' shock can be launched by a power spike at the end of the laser pulse. For targets with the same adiabat and implosion velocities, the laser energy required for ignition is significantly lower for shock-ignition ICF than for standard ICF

[en] The results from a series of single-mode Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability growth experiments performed on the OMEGA laser system using planar targets are reported. Planar targets with imposed mass perturbations were accelerated using five to six 351-nm laser beams overlapped with total intensities up to 2.5x10¹⁴ W/cm². Experiments were performed with both 3-ns ramp and 3-ns flat-topped temporal pulse shapes. The use of distributed phase plates and smoothing by spectral dispersion resulted in a laser-irradiation nonuniformity of 4%-7% over a 600-μm-diam region defined by the 90% intensity contour. The temporal growth of the modulation in optical depth was measured using through-foil radiography and was detected with an x-ray framing camera for CH targets with and without a foam buffer. The growth of both 31-μm and 60-μm wavelength perturbations was found to be in good agreement with ORCHID simulations when the experimental details, including noise, were included. The addition of a 30-mg/cc, 100-μm-thick polystyrene foam buffer layer resulted in reduced growth of the 31-μm perturbation and essentially unchanged growth for the 60-μm case when compared to targets without foam

[en] The inner-surface roughness of thick cryogenic-fuel layers in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets plays a critical role in determining the overall success of an ICF capsule implosion. Imperfections at this surface affect the growth of Raleigh-Taylor hydrodynamic instabilities during both the acceleration and deceleration phases of the implosion. Characterization of this surface is performed using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer that illuminates the target with a wavefront that is convergent to a point near the targets' rear focal point, thereby reducing the strong negative-lens effects of the thick cryogenic fuel layer. The construction of this interferometer is described in the text. Phase-shifting interferometry is utilized to acquire the perturbed wavefronts that have passed through the target. These wavefronts are subsequently sampled around the target perimeter and decomposed into a one-dimensional Fourier spectrum, which is Abel transformed into a two-dimensional (2D) spectrum. The validity of convergent-beam interferometry is demonstrated by analyzing numerically generated perturbed wavefronts. The wavefronts are analyzed, and the (2D) spectrum obtained is compared to the actual spectrum imposed on the interior of the ice surface of the target model. Agreement between these spectra is >80% for Legendre modes between 2 and 50. (c) 2000 American Institute of Physics

[en] Cryogenic-deuterium-tritium (DT) target compression experiments with low-adiabat (α), multiple-shock drive pulses have been performed on the Omega Laser Facility [T. R. Boehly, D. L. Brown, R. S. Craxton et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] to demonstrate hydrodynamic-equivalent ignition performance. The multiple-shock drive pulse facilitates experimental shock tuning using an established cone-in-shell target platform [T. R. Boehly, R. Betti, T. R. Boehly et al., Phys. Plasmas 16, 056301 (2009)]. These shock-tuned drive pulses have been used to implode cryogenic-DT targets with peak implosion velocities of 3x10⁷ cm/s at peak drive intensities of 8x10¹⁴ W/cm². During a recent series of α∼2 implosions, one of the two necessary conditions for initiating a thermonuclear burn wave in a DT plasma was achieved: an areal density of approximately 300 mg/cm² was inferred using the magnetic recoil spectrometer [J. A. Frenje, C. K. Li, F. H. Seguin et al., Phys. Plasmas 16, 042704 (2009)]. The other condition--a burn-averaged ion temperature < T_i>_n of 8-10 keV--cannot be achieved on Omega because of the limited laser energy; the kinetic energy of the imploding shell is insufficient to heat the plasma to these temperatures. A < T_i>_n of approximately 3.4 keV would be required to demonstrate ignition hydrodynamic equivalence [Betti et al., Phys. Plasmas17, 058102 (2010)]. The < T_i>_n reached during the recent series of α∼2 implosions was approximately 2 keV, limited primarily by laser-drive and target nonuniformities. Work is underway to improve drive and target symmetry for future experiments.