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National direct-drive program on OMEGA and the National Ignition Facility

Journal Article · · Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion

We report a major advantage of the laser direct-drive (DD) approach to ignition is the increased fraction of laser drive energy coupled to the hot spot and relaxed hot-spot requirements for the peak pressure and convergence ratios relative to the indirect-drive approach at equivalent laser energy. With the goal of a successful ignition demonstration using DD, the recently established national strategy has several elements and involves multiple national and international institutions. These elements include the experimental demonstration on OMEGA cryogenic implosions of hot-spot conditions relevant for ignition at MJ-scale energies available at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and developing an understanding of laser-plasma interactions and laser coupling using DD experiments on the NIF. DD designs require reaching central stagnation pressures in excess of 100 Gbar. The current experiments on OMEGA have achieved inferred peak pressures of 56 Gbar (Regan et al 2016 Phys. Rev. Lett. 117 025001). Extensive analysis of the cryogenic target experiments and two- and three-dimensional simulations suggest that power balance, target offset, and target quality are the main limiting factors in target performance. In addition, cross-beam energy transfer (CBET) has been identified as the main mechanism reducing laser coupling. Reaching the goal of demonstrating hydrodynamic equivalence on OMEGA includes improving laser power balance, target position, and target quality at shot time. CBET must also be significantly reduced and several strategies have been identified to address this issue.

Research Organization:
University of Rochester, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); University of Rochester; New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
Grant/Contract Number:
NA0001944
OSTI ID:
1535451
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1329267
OSTI ID: 22717595
Journal Information:
Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Journal Name: Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 59; ISSN 0741-3335
Publisher:
IOP ScienceCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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  • Kessler, Terrance J.; Lin, Ying; Armstrong, J. Joseph
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conference May 1993

Cited By (19)

Laser-direct-drive program: Promise, challenge, and path forward journal March 2017
Tripled yield in direct-drive laser fusion through statistical modelling journal January 2019
Monochromatic backlighting of direct-drive cryogenic DT implosions on OMEGA journal May 2017
Three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of OMEGA implosions journal May 2017
Path integral Monte Carlo simulations of dense carbon-hydrogen plasmas journal March 2018
A review on ab initio studies of static, transport, and optical properties of polystyrene under extreme conditions for inertial confinement fusion applications journal May 2018
Measurement of apparent ion temperature using the magnetic recoil spectrometer at the OMEGA laser facility journal October 2018
Mitigation of cross-beam energy transfer in ignition-scale polar-direct-drive target designs for the National Ignition Facility journal July 2018
Progress toward a self-consistent set of 1D ignition capsule metrics in ICF journal December 2018
Impact of imposed mode 2 laser drive asymmetry on inertial confinement fusion implosions journal January 2019
Feasibility of shock-volume ignition approach in simple spherical targets driven by heavy ion beams journal November 2019
Inferred UV fluence focal-spot profiles from soft x-ray pinhole-camera measurements on OMEGA journal February 2020
Study of high-Z-coated ignition target by detailed configuration accounting atomic physics for direct-drive inertial confinement fusion journal November 2018
The National Direct-Drive Inertial Confinement Fusion Program journal December 2018
Path integral Monte Carlo simulations of warm dense aluminum journal June 2018
Impact of asymmetries on fuel performance in inertial confinement fusion journal November 2018
Subpercent-Scale Control of 3D Low Modes of Targets Imploded in Direct-Drive Configuration on OMEGA journal March 2018
Rarefaction Flows and Mitigation of Imprint in Direct-Drive Implosions journal August 2019
First-principles Equation of State and Shock Compression Predictions of Warm Dense Hydrocarbons text January 2017

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