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Title: The near vacuum hohlraum campaign at the NIF: A new approach

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4950843· OSTI ID:1260965
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  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  2. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  3. General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
  4. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  5. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Here, the near vacuum campaign on the National Ignition Facility has concentrated its efforts over the last year on finding the optimum target geometry to drive a symmetric implosion at high convergence ratio (30). As the hohlraum walls are not tamped with gas, the hohlraum is filling with gold plasma and the challenge resides in depositing enough energy in the hohlraum before it fills up. Hohlraum filling is believed to cause symmetry swings late in the pulse that are detrimental to the symmetry of the hot spot at high convergence. This paper describes a series of experiments carried out to examine the effect of increasing the distance between the hohlraum wall and the capsule (case to capsule ratio) on the symmetry of the hot spot. These experiments have shown that smaller Case to Capsule Ratio (CCR of 2.87 and 3.1) resulted in oblate implosions that could not be tuned round. Larger CCR (3.4) led to a prolate implosion at convergence 30 implying that inner beam propagation at large CCR is not impeded by the expanding hohlraum plasma. A Case to Capsule ratio of 3.4 is a promising geometry to design a round implosion but in a smaller hohlraum where the hohlraum losses are lower, enabling a wider cone fraction range to adjust symmetry.

Research Organization:
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
NA0002726; AC52-07NA27344; NA0001857; NA0002949
OSTI ID:
1260965
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1254368; OSTI ID: 1260966; OSTI ID: 1260967
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 5; ISSN 1070-664X
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 40 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (20)

Symmetry control of an indirectly driven high-density-carbon implosion at high convergence and high velocity journal May 2017
Performance of beryllium targets with full-scale capsules in low-fill 6.72-mm hohlraums on the National Ignition Facility journal May 2017
The effects of convergence ratio on the implosion behavior of DT layered inertial confinement fusion capsules journal July 2017
Hollow wall to stabilize and enhance ignition hohlraums journal January 2018
Comparison of plastic, high density carbon, and beryllium as indirect drive NIF ablators journal May 2018
Exploring the limits of case-to-capsule ratio, pulse length, and picket energy for symmetric hohlraum drive on the National Ignition Facility Laser journal May 2018
Mitigation of X-ray shadow seeding of hydrodynamic instabilities on inertial confinement fusion capsules using a reduced diameter fuel fill-tube journal May 2018
Visualizing deceleration-phase instabilities in inertial confinement fusion implosions using an “enhanced self-emission” technique at the National Ignition Facility journal May 2018
Increasing stagnation pressure and thermonuclear performance of inertial confinement fusion capsules by the introduction of a high-Z dopant journal August 2018
Hydrodynamic instabilities seeded by the X-ray shadow of ICF capsule fill-tubes journal August 2018
First demonstration of improved capsule implosions by reducing radiation preheat in uranium vs gold hohlraums journal September 2018
Implosion shape control of high-velocity, large case-to-capsule ratio beryllium ablators at the National Ignition Facility journal July 2018
Kinetic effects on neutron generation in moderately collisional interpenetrating plasma flows journal January 2019
Hybrid particle-in-cell simulations of laser-driven plasma interpenetration, heating, and entrainment journal November 2019
Maintaining low-mode symmetry control with extended pulse shapes for lower-adiabat Bigfoot implosions on the National Ignition Facility journal November 2019
Indirect drive ignition at the National Ignition Facility journal October 2016
Toward a burning plasma state using diamond ablator inertially confined fusion (ICF) implosions on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) journal November 2018
Beyond alpha-heating: driving inertially confined fusion implosions toward a burning-plasma state on the National Ignition Facility journal November 2018
Preliminary study on a tetrahedral hohlraum with four half-cylindrical cavities for indirectly driven inertial confinement fusion journal March 2017
Progress of indirect drive inertial confinement fusion in the United States journal July 2019

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