Three-dimensional hydrodynamic experiments on the National Ignition Facility

Journal Article · Sun May 15 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1898226· OSTI ID:20736605

Blue, B E; Robey, H F; Glendinning, S G; Bono, M J; Burkhart, S C; Celeste, J R; Costa, R L; Dixit, S N; Hansen, J F; Haynam, C A; Hermann, M R; Holder, J P; Hsing, W W; Kalantar, D H; Latray, D A; Louis, H; MacGowan, B J; Marshall, C D; Moses, E I; Nikitin, A J ^[1]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)

The production of supersonic jets of material via the interaction of a strong shock wave with a spatially localized density perturbation is a common feature of inertial confinement fusion and astrophysics. The behavior of two-dimensional (2D) supersonic jets has previously been investigated in detail [J. M. Foster, B. H. Wilde, P. A. Rosen, T. S. Perry, M. Fell, M. J. Edwards, B. F. Lasinski, R. E. Turner, and M. L. Gittings, Phys. Plasmas 9, 2251 (2002)]. In three dimensions (3D), however, there are new aspects to the behavior of supersonic jets in compressible media. In this paper, the commissioning activities on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [J. A. Paisner, J. D. Boyes, S. A. Kumpan, W. H. Lowdermilk, and M. Sorem, Laser Focus World 30, 75 (1994)] to enable hydrodynamic experiments will be presented as well as the results from the first series of hydrodynamic experiments. In these experiments, two of the first four beams of NIF are used to drive a 40 Mbar shock wave into millimeter scale aluminum targets backed by 100 mg/cc carbon aerogel foam. The remaining beams are delayed in time and are used to provide a point-projection x-ray backlighter source for diagnosing the three-dimensional structure of the jet evolution resulting from a variety of 2D and 3D features. Comparisons between data and simulations using several codes will be presented.

• OSTI ID: 20736605
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 12; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ALUMINIUM
HYDRODYNAMICS
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
PLASMA JETS
SHOCK WAVES
SUPERSONIC FLOW
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
US NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY