Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Direct Measurements of DT Fuel Preheat from Hot Electrons in Direct-Drive Inertial Confinement Fusion

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters
Hot electrons generated by laser-plasma instabilities degrade the performance of laser-fusion implosions by preheating the DT fuel and reducing core compression. The hot-electron energy deposition in the DT fuel has been directly measured for the first time by comparing the hard x-ray signals between DT-layered and mass-equivalent ablator-only implosions. The electron energy deposition profile in the fuel is inferred through dedicated experiments using Cu-doped payloads of varying thickness. The measured preheat energy accurately explains the areal-density degradation observed in many OMEGA implosions. Furthermore, this technique can be used to assess the viability of the direct-drive approach to laser fusion with respect to the scaling of hot-electron preheat with laser energy.
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:
1830368
Journal Information:
Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 127; ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (85)

Bremsstrahlung spectra from electron interactions with screened atomic nuclei and orbital electrons journal August 1985
Initial performance results of the OMEGA laser system journal January 1997
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
Measurement of preheat due to fast electrons in laser implosions journal September 2000
Hard x-ray detectors for OMEGA and NIF journal January 2001
Measurement of preheat due to fast electrons in laser implosions of cryogenic deuterium targets journal June 2005
Hard x-ray and hot electron environment in vacuum hohlraums at the National Ignition Facility journal March 2006
Time-resolved absorption in cryogenic and room-temperature direct-drive implosions journal May 2008
Stopping power and range of energetic electrons in dense plasmas of fast-ignition fusion targets journal January 2008
Two-plasmon-decay instability in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion experiments journal May 2009
Thermonuclear ignition in inertial confinement fusion and comparison with magnetic confinement journal May 2010
Hot electron measurements in ignition relevant Hohlraums on the National Ignition Facility journal October 2010
Stimulated Raman scatter analyses of experiments conducted at the National Ignition Facility journal May 2011
Fast-electron generation in long-scale-length plasmas journal January 2012
The dynamics of hot-electron heating in direct-drive-implosion experiments caused by two-plasmon-decay instability journal February 2012
Trapping induced nonlinear behavior of backward stimulated Raman scattering in multi-speckled laser beams journal May 2012
Performance metrics for inertial confinement fusion implosions: Aspects of the technical framework for measuring progress in the National Ignition Campaign journal May 2012
Neutron spectrometry—An essential tool for diagnosing implosions at the National Ignition Facility (invited) journal October 2012
High-resolution spectroscopy used to measure inertial confinement fusion neutron spectra on Omega (invited) journal October 2012
Measured hot-electron intensity thresholds quantified by a two-plasmon-decay resonant common-wave gain in various experimental configurations journal May 2013
Mitigation of two-plasmon decay in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion through the manipulation of ion-acoustic and Langmuir wave damping journal May 2013
Measurements of the divergence of fast electrons in laser-irradiated spherical targets journal September 2013
Multiple-beam laser–plasma interactions in inertial confinement fusion journal May 2014
Time-resolved measurements of the hot-electron population in ignition-scale experiments on the National Ignition Facility (invited) journal November 2014
Direct-drive inertial confinement fusion: A review journal November 2015
Resonance between heat-carrying electrons and Langmuir waves in inertial confinement fusion plasmas journal January 2016
Calibration of a time-resolved hard-x-ray detector using radioactive sources journal August 2016
Measurements of hot-electron temperature in laser-irradiated plasmas journal October 2016
Density modulation-induced absolute laser-plasma-instabilities: Simulations and theory journal May 2017
Simulations and measurements of hot-electron generation driven by the multibeam two-plasmon-decay instability journal October 2017
Readout models for BaFBr 0.85 I 0.15 :Eu image plates journal June 2018
The control of hot-electron preheat in shock-ignition implosions journal May 2018
Theory of alpha heating in inertial fusion: Alpha-heating metrics and the onset of the burning-plasma regime journal July 2018
Progress toward a self-consistent set of 1D ignition capsule metrics in ICF journal December 2018
Determining acceptable limits of fast-electron preheat in direct-drive-ignition–scale target designs journal June 2019
Recent research progress of laser plasma interactions in Shenguang laser facilities journal September 2019
Hot-electron generation at direct-drive ignition-relevant plasma conditions at the National Ignition Facility journal May 2020
Stimulated Raman scattering mechanisms and scaling behavior in planar direct-drive experiments at the National Ignition Facility journal April 2020
Backward and forward stimulated Raman scattering from thin foil targets with a 0.26 μm laser journal January 1990
Intense laser plasma interactions: From Janus to Nova journal August 1991
Suprathermal and relativistic electrons produced in laser–plasma interaction at 0.26, 0.53, and 1.05 μm laser wavelength journal August 1992
Saturation of stimulated Raman scattering by Langmuir and ion‐acoustic wave coupling journal January 1993
Parametric decay of electromagnetic waves into two plasmons and its consequences journal January 1976
On the inhomogeneous two-plasmon instability journal January 1983
Nonlinear evolution of stimulated Raman scattering in homogeneous plasmas journal January 1987
Laser–plasma interactions in ignition‐scale hohlraum plasmas journal May 1996
A variational approach to parametric instabilities in inhomogeneous plasmas III: Two-plasmon decay journal November 1997
The National Ignition Facility - applications for inertial fusion energy and high-energy-density science journal December 1999
Laser–plasma interactions in direct-drive ignition plasmas journal November 2012
A review of laser–plasma interaction physics of indirect-drive fusion journal September 2013
An empirical target discharging model relevant to hot-electron preheat in direct-drive implosions on OMEGA journal February 2013
Physics of laser plasma interaction and particle transport in the context of inertial confinement fusion journal December 2018
The role of fast-electron preheating in low-adiabat cryogenic implosions on OMEGA journal May 2008
First hot electron measurements in near-ignition scale hohlraums on the National Ignition Facility journal August 2010
eHXI: a permanently installed, hard x-ray imager for the National Ignition Facility journal June 2016
Effect of laser illumination nonuniformity on the analysis of time-resolved x-ray measurements in uv spherical transport experiments journal October 1987
Direct observation of the two-plasmon-decay common plasma wave using ultraviolet Thomson scattering journal March 2015
Thermonuclear ignition and the onset of propagating burn in inertial fusion implosions journal February 2019
Theory and measurements of convective Raman side scatter in inertial confinement fusion experiments journal March 2019
Role of Hot-Electron Preheating in the Compression of Direct-Drive Imploding Targets with Cryogenic D 2 Ablators journal May 2008
Growth and Saturation of Convective Modes of the Two-Plasmon Decay Instability in Inertial Confinement Fusion journal October 2009
Direct Measurement of Energetic Electrons Coupling to an Imploding Low-Adiabat Inertial Confinement Fusion Capsule journal March 2012
Driven Spatially Autoresonant Stimulated Raman Scattering in the Kinetic Regime journal April 2012
Generating energetic electrons through staged acceleration in the two-plasmon-decay instability in inertial confinement fusion journal April 2012
Anomalously Hot Electrons due to Rescatter of Stimulated Raman Scattering in the Kinetic Regime journal April 2013
Nonuniformly Driven Two-Plasmon-Decay Instability in Direct-Drive Implosions journal April 2014
Control of Stimulated Raman Scattering in the Strongly Nonlinear and Kinetic Regime Using Spike Trains of Uneven Duration and Delay journal July 2014
Multiple Beam Two-Plasmon Decay: Linear Threshold to Nonlinear Saturation in Three Dimensions journal September 2014
Alpha Heating and Burning Plasmas in Inertial Confinement Fusion journal June 2015
Multibeam Stimulated Raman Scattering in Inertial Confinement Fusion Conditions journal July 2015
Generation and Beaming of Early Hot Electrons onto the Capsule in Laser-Driven Ignition Hohlraums journal February 2016
Demonstration of Fuel Hot-Spot Pressure in Excess of 50 Gbar for Direct-Drive, Layered Deuterium-Tritium Implosions on OMEGA journal July 2016
Experimental Investigation of the Collective Raman Scattering of Multiple Laser Beams in Inhomogeneous Plasmas journal December 2016
Interplay of Laser-Plasma Interactions and Inertial Fusion Hydrodynamics journal January 2017
Origins and Scaling of Hot-Electron Preheat in Ignition-Scale Direct-Drive Inertial Confinement Fusion Experiments journal January 2018
Suppressing Two-Plasmon Decay with Laser Frequency Detuning journal March 2018
Fusion Energy Output Greater than the Kinetic Energy of an Imploding Shell at the National Ignition Facility journal June 2018
High-Performance Indirect-Drive Cryogenic Implosions at High Adiabat on the National Ignition Facility journal September 2018
Anomalous Absorption by the Two-Plasmon Decay Instability journal May 2020
Parametric Instabilities in Inhomogeneous Media journal August 1972
Parametric Scattering Instabilities in Inhomogeneous Plasmas journal September 1973
Evidence that stimulated Raman scattering in laser-produced plasmas is an absolute instability journal March 1988
Multibeam Effects on Fast-Electron Generation from Two-Plasmon-Decay Instability journal June 2003
Proton Radiography of Inertial Fusion Implosions journal February 2008