Published In

Physics of Plasmas

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2002

Subjects

Plasma (Ionized gases), Plasma confinement, Laser fusion, Fusion reactors

Abstract

Analysis and design of indirect-drive National Ignition Facility double-shell targets with hohlraum temperatures of 200 eV and 250 eV are presented. The analysis of these targets includes the assessment of two-dimensional radiation asymmetry and nonlinear mix. Two-dimensional integrated hohlraum simulations indicate that the x-ray illumination can be adjusted to provide adequate symmetry control in hohlraums specially designed to have high laser-coupling efficiency [Suter et al., Phys. Plasmas 7, 2092 (2000)]. These simulations also reveal the need to diagnose and control localized 10?15 keV x-ray emission from the high-Z hohlraum wall because of strong absorption by the high-Z inner shell. Preliminary estimates of the degree of laser backscatter from an assortment of laser?plasma interactions suggest comparatively benign hohlraum conditions. The application of a variety of nonlinear mix models and phenomenological tools, including buoyancy-drag models, multimode simulations and fall-line optimization, indicates a possibility of achieving ignition, i.e., fusion yields greater than 1 MJ. Planned experiments on the Omega laser will test current understanding of high-energy radiation flux asymmetry and mix-induced yield degradation in double-shell targets.

Description

This work was authored as part of the Contributor's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.

© 2002 AIP Publishing LLC. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. The following article appeared in Physics of Plasmas and may be found at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1459451

* At the time of publication John D. Ramshaw was affiliated with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

DOI

10.1063/1.1459451

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/7687

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