Nonuniform Absorption and Scattered Light in Direct-Drive Implosions Driven by Polarization Smoothing

Edgell, D. H.; Radha, P. B.; Katz, J.; Shvydky, A.; Turnbull, D.; Froula, D. H.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.127.075001

Nonuniform Absorption and Scattered Light in Direct-Drive Implosions Driven by Polarization Smoothing

Journal Article · Mon Aug 09 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.127.075001· OSTI ID:1814199

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Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States). Lab. for Laser Energetics; Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester
Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States). Lab. for Laser Energetics

Laser-direct-drive symmetric implosions on OMEGA illuminate a target with 60 laser beams and are designed to produce spherical implosions. Each beam is smoothed using orthogonal polarizations obtained by passing through distributed polarization rotators (DPR’s). Observations of the scattered light from OMEGA implosions do not show the expected symmetry and have much larger variation than standard predictions. For the first time, we have quantified the scattered-light nonuniformity from individual beams and identified the DPR’s as the source of the enhanced nonuniformity. An instrument was invented that isolated and measured the variation in the intensity and polarization of the light scattered from each OMEGA beam. The asymmetric intensity and polarization measurements are explained when the on-target offsets between the two orthogonal polarizations produced by the DPR’s are modeled using a 3-D cross-beam energy transfer (CBET) code that tracks the polarizations of each beam. The time-integrated nonuniformity in laser absorption and scattered light due to CBET and the DPR polarization offsets during high-performance OMEGA implosions is predicted to be significant and dominated by low spherical harmonic mode numbers. Further, the nonuniformity is predicted to be greatly reduced by replacing the DPR’s with new optics that create smaller offsets.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States). Lab. for Laser Energetics

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: NA0003856

OSTI ID:: 1814199

Journal Information:: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 127; ISSN 0031-9007

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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