Experiments to explore the influence of pulse shaping at the National Ignition Facility

Dataset · Fri Jun 25 04:00:00 EDT 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/ZZ5O7S· OSTI ID:1886859

Thomas, C. A. ^[1]; Campbell, E. M.; Baker, K. L.; Casey, D. T.; Hohenberger, M.; Kritcher, A. L.; Spears, B. K.; Khan, S. F.; Nora, R.; Woods, D. T.; Milovich, J. L.; Berger, R. L.; Strozzi, D.; Ho, D. D.; Clark, D.; Bachmann, B.; Benedetti, L. R.; Bionta, R.; Celliers, P. M.; Fittinghoff, D. N. ; Grim, G.; Hatarik, R.; Izumi, N.; Kyrala, G.; Ma, T.; Millot, M.; Nagel, S. R.; Patel, P. K.; Yeamans, C.; Nikroo, A.; Tabak, M.; Johnson, M. Gatu; Volegov, P. L.; Finnegan, S. M.

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1. OSTI

The shaping of the drive pulse in time is a key tool in the design of fusion experiments that use inertia to confine burning plasmas. It is directly related to the adiabat and compressibility of the DT fuel, and the characteristics of the laser and target that are needed to ignite. With this in mind, we have performed experiments at the National Ignition Facility that test small changes in the shape of the pulse. In contrast to theory, we find implosions at lower adiabats can have reduced yield and areal density. We discuss implications to performance and the mechanism(s) that could be responsible.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• DOE Contract Number: NA0003856; AC52-07NA27344
• OSTI ID: 1886859
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY