Improving cryogenic deuterium–tritium implosion performance on OMEGA

Journal Article · Wed May 15 04:00:00 EDT 2013 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4805088· OSTI ID:22228106

Sangster, T. C.; Goncharov, V. N.; Betti, R.; Radha, P. B.; Boehly, T. R.; Collins, T. J. B.; Craxton, R. S.; Delettrez, J. A.; Edgell, D. H.; Epstein, R.; Forrest, C. J.; Froula, D. H.; Glebov, Y. Yu.; Harding, D. R.; Hohenberger, M.; Hu, S. X.; Igumenshchev, I. V.; Janezic, R.; Kelly, J. H.; Kessler, T. J. ^[1] ; others, and

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

A flexible direct-drive target platform is used to implode cryogenic deuterium–tritium (DT) capsules on the OMEGA laser [Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)]. The goal of these experiments is to demonstrate ignition hydrodynamically equivalent performance where the laser drive intensity, the implosion velocity, the fuel adiabat, and the in-flight aspect ratio (IFAR) are the same as those for a 1.5-MJ target [Goncharov et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 165001 (2010)] designed to ignite on the National Ignition Facility [Hogan et al., Nucl. Fusion 41, 567 (2001)]. The results from a series of 29 cryogenic DT implosions are presented. The implosions were designed to span a broad region of design space to study target performance as a function of shell stability (adiabat) and implosion velocity. Ablation-front perturbation growth appears to limit target performance at high implosion velocities. Target outer-surface defects associated with contaminant gases in the DT fuel are identified as the dominant perturbation source at the ablation surface; performance degradation is confirmed by 2D hydrodynamic simulations that include these defects. A trend in the value of the Lawson criterion [Betti et al., Phys. Plasmas 17, 058102 (2010)] for each of the implosions in adiabat–IFAR space suggests the existence of a stability boundary that leads to ablator mixing into the hot spot for the most ignition-equivalent designs.

• OSTI ID: 22228106
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 20; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ABLATION
ASPECT RATIO
CAPSULES
CRYOGENICS
D-T OPERATION
DESIGN
DISTURBANCES
HYDRODYNAMICS
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT
LASER TARGETS
LASER-PRODUCED PLASMA
LAWSON CRITERION
NEODYMIUM LASERS
OMEGA FACILITY
PLASMA SIMULATION
THERMONUCLEAR IGNITION
THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS
US NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY