[en] Experiments are being developed to shock compress metal foils in the solid state to study the material strength under high compression. The x-ray drive has been characterized and hydrodynamics experiments performed to study growth of the Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability in Al foils at a peak pressure of about 1.8 Mbar. Pre-imposed modulations with an initial wavelength of lo-50 pm, and amplitude of 0.5 pm show growth. Variation in the growth factors may be a result of shot-shot variation in preheating of the Al sample due to emission from the plasma in the hohlraum target

[en] We have developed and tested several optical interferometric diagnostics to measure preheat and shock velocity in high-pressure equation of state experiments on the Nova laser. Theory and practical application of interferometric measurement techniques with illustrative experimental results are presented

[en] An X-ray drive has been developed to shock compress metal foils in the solid state using an internally shielded hohlraum with a high contrast shaped pulse from the Nova laser. The drive has been characterized, and hydrodynamics experiments designed to study the growth of the Rayleigh-Taylor (R-T) instability in Cu foils at 3 Mbar peak pressures in the plastic flow regime have been started. Preimposed modulations with an initial wavelength of 20-50 μm and amplitudes of 1.0-2.5 μm show growth consistent with simulations. In the Nova experiments, the fluid and solid states are expected to behave similarly for Cu. An analytic stability analysis is used to motivate an experimental design with an Al foil where the effects of material strength of the R-T growth are significantly enhanced. The conditions reached in the metal foils at peak compression are similar to those predicted at the core of Earth. (c) 2000 The American Astronomical Society

[en] Large lasers such as Nova allow the possibility of achieving regimes of high energy densities in plasmas of millimeter spatial scales and nanosecond time scales. In those plasmas where thermal conductivity and viscosity do not play a significant role, the hydrodynamic evolution is suitable for benchmarking hydrodynamics modeling in astrophysical codes. Several experiments on Nova examine hydrodynamically unstable interfaces. A typical Nova experiment uses a gold millimeter-scale hohlraum to convert the laser energy to a 200 eV blackbody source lasting about a nanosecond. The x-rays ablate a planar target, generating a series of shocks and accelerating the target. The evolving area1 density is diagnosed by time-resolved radiography, using a second x-ray source. Data from several experiments are presented and diagnostic techniques are discussed

[en] Hydrodynamic instability growth experiments with threedimensional (3-D) surface-roughness modulations were performed on plastic (CH) shell spherical implosions at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The initial capsule outer-surface roughness was similar to the standard specifications (“native roughness”) used in a majority of implosions on NIF. At a convergence ratio of ∼3, the measured tent modulations were close to those predicted by 3-D simulations (within ∼15-20%), while measured 3-D, broadband modulations were ∼3-4 times larger than those simulated based on the growth of the known imposed initial surface modulations. One of the hypotheses to explain the results is based on the increased instability amplitudes due to modulations of the oxygen content in the bulk of the capsule. These new experiments results have prompted looking for ways to reduce UV light exposure during target fabrication. (paper)

[en] The National Ignition Campaign (NIC) will use non-igniting 'THD' capsules with cryogenic ice layers to study and optimize the hydrodynamic assembly of the fuel without burn. These capsules are characterized by the ratios of T:H:D. The species ratios are set with two goals in mind: (1) control T:D in order to adjust the nuclear energy production and (2) preserve the average atomic number of the fuel at 2.5 to maintain hydrodynamic similarity with the DT ignition capsule. We have developed an experimentally observable ignition threshold factor (ITFX) that uses measurements from THD experiments to predict the performance of DT ignition implosions. It was developed and tested on multiple large databases of 2D radhydro simulations. Each of the thousands of simulations includes twin DT and THD simulations with a variety of physical failure mechanisms - drive asymmetry, capsule roughness, continuum mixing, fabrication errors, among others. The results of our numerical database and the ITFX metric have allowed us to develop an experimental estimate of the probability of DT ignition based on THD experiments. The analysis accounts for both diagnostic precision and the effects of a finite number of shots. The NIC expects to field a combination of diagnostics and experimental attempts that result in a 15 to 20 percent uncertainty in the experimentally inferred probability of ignition. This work was completed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

[en] Hydrodynamic instability growth experiments with three-dimensional (3-D) surface-roughness modulations were performed on plastic (CH) shell spherical implosions at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [E. M. Campbell, R. Cauble, and B. A. Remington, AIP Conf. Proc. 429, 3 (1998)]. The initial capsule outer-surface roughness was similar to the standard specifications (“native roughness”) used in a majority of implosions on NIF. The experiments included instability growth measurements of the perturbations seeded by the thin membranes (or tents) used to hold the capsules inside the hohlraums. In addition, initial modulations included two divots used as spatial fiducials to determine the convergence in the experiments and to check the accuracy of 3D simulations in calculating growth of known initial perturbations. The instability growth measurements were performed using x-ray, through-foil radiography of one side of the imploding shell, based on time-resolved pinhole imaging. Averaging over 30 similar images significantly increases the signal-to-noise ratio, making possible a comparison with 3-D simulations. At a convergence ratio of ∼3, the measured tent and divot modulations were close to those predicted by 3-D simulations (within ∼15%–20%), while measured 3-D, broadband modulations were ∼3–4 times larger than those simulated based on the growth of the known imposed initial surface modulations. In addition, some of the measured 3-D features in x-ray radiographs did not resemble those characterized on the outer capsule surface before the experiments. One of the hypotheses to explain the results is based on the increased instability amplitudes due to modulations of the oxygen content in the bulk of the capsule. As the target assembly and handling procedures involve exposure to UV light, this can increase the uptake of the oxygen into the capsule, with irregularities in the oxygen seeding hydrodynamic instabilities. These new experimental results have prompted looking for ways to reduce UV light exposure during target fabrication

[en] Diagnostics such as neutron yield, ion temperature, image size and shape, and bang time in capsules with >∼25 % deuterium fuel show changes due to burn product heating. The comparison of performance between a THD(2%) and THD(35%) can help predict ignition in a TD(50%) capsule. Surrogacy of THD capsules to TD(50%) is incomplete due to variations in fuel molecular vapour pressures. TD(25-35%) capsules might be preferred to study hot spot heating, but at the risk of increased fuel/ablator mixing.

[en] Capsule performance optimization campaigns will be conducted at the National Ignition Facility [G. H. Miller, E. I. Moses, and C. R. Wuest, Nucl. Fusion 44, 228 (2004)] to substantially increase the probability of ignition. The campaigns will experimentally correct for residual uncertainties in the implosion and hohlraum physics used in our radiation-hydrodynamic computational models using a variety of ignition capsule surrogates before proceeding to cryogenic-layered implosions and ignition experiments. The quantitative goals and technique options and down selections for the tuning campaigns are first explained. The computationally derived sensitivities to key laser and target parameters are compared to simple analytic models to gain further insight into the physics of the tuning techniques. The results of the validation of the tuning techniques at the OMEGA facility [J. M. Soures et al., Phys. Plasmas 3, 2108 (1996)] under scaled hohlraum and capsule conditions relevant to the ignition design are shown to meet the required sensitivity and accuracy. A roll-up of all expected random and systematic uncertainties in setting the key ignition laser and target parameters due to residual measurement, calibration, cross-coupling, surrogacy, and scale-up errors has been derived that meets the required budget. Finally, we show how the tuning precision will be improved after a number of shots and iterations to meet an acceptable level of residual uncertainty.

[en] Symmetry capsules or 'symcaps' are inertial-fusion capsules that resemble ignition capsules but lack cryogenic fuel. The shape of an imploded symcap, as revealed by images of its x-ray emission near stagnation, contains information about the degree of radiation drive asymmetry that drove its implosion. We have carried out many numerical studies of how symcaps perform, tested their response to variations in laser and target parameters, and conducted Omega experiments in 2007 to verify their operation in certain cases. Thus we are building confidence in the use of symcaps to achieve the critical goal of measuring and optimizing drive symmetry in NIF targets prior to the first ignition shots