Hydrodynamic simulations of long-scale-length two-plasmon-decay experiments at the Omega Laser Facility
- Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, 250 E. River Road, Rochester, New York 14623 (United States)
Direct-drive-ignition designs with plastic CH ablators create plasmas of long density scale lengths (L{sub n} {>=} 500 {mu}m) at the quarter-critical density (N{sub qc}) region of the driving laser. The two-plasmon-decay (TPD) instability can exceed its threshold in such long-scale-length plasmas (LSPs). To investigate the scaling of TPD-induced hot electrons to laser intensity and plasma conditions, a series of planar experiments have been conducted at the Omega Laser Facility with 2-ns square pulses at the maximum laser energies available on OMEGA and OMEGA EP. Radiation-hydrodynamic simulations have been performed for these LSP experiments using the two-dimensional hydrocode draco. The simulated hydrodynamic evolution of such long-scale-length plasmas has been validated with the time-resolved full-aperture backscattering and Thomson-scattering measurements. draco simulations for CH ablator indicate that (1) ignition-relevant long-scale-length plasmas of L{sub n} approaching {approx}400 {mu}m have been created; (2) the density scale length at N{sub qc} scales as L{sub n}({mu}m) Asymptotically-Equal-To (R{sub DPP} Multiplication-Sign I{sup 1/4}/2); and (3) the electron temperature T{sub e} at N{sub qc} scales as T{sub e}(keV) Asymptotically-Equal-To 0.95 Multiplication-Sign {radical}(I), with the incident intensity (I) measured in 10{sup 14} W/cm{sup 2} for plasmas created on both OMEGA and OMEGA EP configurations with different-sized (R{sub DPP}) distributed phase plates. These intensity scalings are in good agreement with the self-similar model predictions. The measured conversion fraction of laser energy into hot electrons f{sub hot} is found to have a similar behavior for both configurations: a rapid growth [f{sub hot} Asymptotically-Equal-To f{sub c} Multiplication-Sign (G{sub c}/4){sup 6} for G{sub c} < 4] followed by a saturation of the form, f{sub hot} Asymptotically-Equal-To f{sub c} Multiplication-Sign (G{sub c}/4){sup 1.2} for G{sub c} {>=} 4, with the common wave gain is defined as G{sub c}=3 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -2} Multiplication-Sign I{sub qc}L{sub n}{lambda}{sub 0}/T{sub e}, where the laser intensity contributing to common-wave gain I{sub qc}, L{sub n}, T{sub e} at N{sub qc}, and the laser wavelength {lambda}{sub 0} are, respectively, measured in [10{sup 14} W/cm{sup 2}], [{mu}m], [keV], and [{mu}m]. The saturation level f{sub c} is observed to be f{sub c} Asymptotically-Equal-To 10{sup -2} at around G{sub c} Asymptotically-Equal-To 4. The hot-electron temperature scales roughly linear with G{sub c}. Furthermore, to mitigate TPD instability in long-scale-length plasmas, different ablator materials such as saran and aluminum have been investigated on OMEGA EP. Hot-electron generation has been reduced by a factor of 3-10 for saran and aluminum plasmas, compared to the CH case at the same incident laser intensity. draco simulations suggest that saran might be a better ablator for direct-drive-ignition designs as it balances TPD mitigation with an acceptable hydro-efficiency.
- OSTI ID:
- 22107696
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 3; Other Information: (c) 2013 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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