Direct-drive high-convergence-ratio implosion studies on the OMEGA laser system

Journal Article · Mon May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2000 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.874032· OSTI ID:20216076

Marshall, F J ^[1]; Delettrez, J A ^[1]; Epstein, R ^[1]; Glebov, V Yu ^[1]; Harding, D R ^[1]; McKenty, P W ^[1]; Meyerhofer, D D ^[1]; Radha, P B ^[1]; Seka, W ^[1]; Skupsky, S ^[1]

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1. Laboratory For Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, 250 East River Road, Rochester, New York 14623-1299 (United States)

A series of direct-drive implosion experiments, using room-temperature, gas-filled CH targets, are performed on the University of Rochester's OMEGA laser system [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)]. The target performance at stagnation and its dependence on beam smoothing and pulse shaping is investigated. Compressed core conditions are diagnosed using x-ray and neutron spectroscopy, and x-ray imaging. The individual beams of OMEGA are smoothed by spectral dispersion in two dimensions (2D SSD) with laser bandwidths up to {approx}0.3 THz, with 1 ns square to 2.5 ns shaped pulses. A clear dependence of target performance on pulse shape and beam smoothing is seen, with the target performance (yield, areal density, and shell integrity) improving as SSD bandwidth is applied. (c)

• OSTI ID: 20216076
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 7, Issue 5; Other Information: PBD: May 2000; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
IMPLOSIONS
DIRECT DRIVE LASER IMPLOSION
OMEGA FACILITY
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
NEUTRON SPECTROSCOPY
X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY
LASER FUSION REACTORS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA