Experimental reduction of laser imprinting and Rayleigh-Taylor growth in spherically compressed, medium-Z-doped plastic targets
- Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, 250 East River Rd., Rochester, New York 14623-1299 (United States)
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551 (United States)
The effect of medium-Z doping of plastic ablators on laser imprinting and Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability growth was studied using spherical direct-drive implosions on the OMEGA Laser System [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1977)]. The targets were spherical plastic (CH) shells, with an outer diameter of 860 {mu}m and a thickness of 22 {mu}m, volume doped with a varied concentration of Si (4.3% and 7.4%) and Ge (3.9%). The targets were imploded with 48 beams with a low-adiabat, triple-picket laser shape pulse with a peak intensity of 4 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 14}W/cm{sup 2}, and a pulse duration of 2.5 ns. The shells were x-ray radiographed through a 400 -{mu}m opening in the side of the target. The results show that volumetric impurity doping strongly reduces the shell density modulation and the instability growth rate. The amplitude of the initial imprint is reduced by a factor of 2.5 {+-} 0.5 for CH[4.3% Si] targets and by a factor of 3 {+-} 0.5 for CH[7.4% Si] and CH[3.9% Ge] targets. At the end of the acceleration phase, the reduction factor becomes 3 {+-} 0.5 and 5 {+-} 0.5, correspondingly. The RT instability growth rate in doped targets is reduced by a factor of 1.5 compared to undoped ones. Simulations using the two-dimensional, radiation-hydrodynamics code draco show good agreement with the measurements.
- OSTI ID:
- 22072472
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 19, Issue 6; Other Information: (c) 2012 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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