The potential role of electric fields and plasma barodiffusion on the inertial confinement fusion database
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551 (United States)
- Plasma Science and Fusion Center, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)
The generation of strong, self-generated electric fields (GV/m) in direct-drive, inertial-confinement-fusion (ICF) capsules has been reported [Rygg et al., Science 319, 1223 (2008); Li et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 225001 (2008)]. A candidate explanation for the origin of these fields based on charge separation across a plasma shock front was recently proposed [Amendt et al., Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 51 124048 (2009)]. The question arises whether such electric fields in imploding capsules can have observable consequences on target performance. Two well-known anomalies come to mind: (1) an observed {approx_equal}2x greater-than-expected deficit of neutrons in an equimolar D{sup 3}He fuel mixture compared with hydrodynamically equivalent D [Rygg et al., Phys. Plasmas 13, 052702 (2006)] and DT [Herrmann et al., Phys. Plasmas 16, 056312 (2009)] fuels, and (2) a similar shortfall of neutrons when trace amounts of argon are mixed with D in indirect-drive implosions [Lindl et al., Phys. Plasmas 11, 339 (2004)]. A new mechanism based on barodiffusion (or pressure gradient-driven diffusion) in a plasma is proposed that incorporates the presence of shock-generated electric fields to explain the reported anomalies. For implosions performed at the Omega laser facility [Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)], the (low Mach number) return shock has an appreciable scale length over which the lighter D ions can diffuse away from fuel center. The depletion of D fuel is estimated and found to lead to a corresponding reduction in neutrons, consistent with the anomalies observed in experiments for both argon-doped D fuels and D{sup 3}He equimolar mixtures. The reverse diffusional flux of the heavier ions toward fuel center also increases the pressure from a concomitant increase in electron number density, resulting in lower stagnation pressures and larger imploded cores in agreement with gated, self-emission, x-ray imaging data.
- OSTI ID:
- 21537893
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3577577; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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