Hydrodynamic instability growth and mix experiments at the National Ignition Facility

Journal Article · Thu May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4872026· OSTI ID:22253092

Smalyuk, V. A.; Barrios, M.; Caggiano, J. A.; Casey, D. T.; Cerjan, C. J.; Clark, D. S.; Edwards, M. J.; Haan, S. W.; Hammel, B. A.; Hamza, A.; Hsing, W. W.; Hurricane, O.; Kroll, J.; Landen, O. L.; Lindl, J. D.; Ma, T.; McNaney, J. M.; Mintz, M.; Parham, T.; Peterson, J. L. ^[1] ; others, and

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

Hydrodynamic instability growth and its effects on implosion performance were studied at the National Ignition Facility [G. H. Miller, E. I. Moses, and C. R. Wuest, Opt. Eng. 443, 2841 (2004)]. Implosion performance and mix have been measured at peak compression using plastic shells filled with tritium gas and containing embedded localized carbon-deuterium diagnostic layers in various locations in the ablator. Neutron yield and ion temperature of the deuterium-tritium fusion reactions were used as a measure of shell-gas mix, while neutron yield of the tritium-tritium fusion reaction was used as a measure of implosion performance. The results have indicated that the low-mode hydrodynamic instabilities due to surface roughness were the primary culprits for yield degradation, with atomic ablator-gas mix playing a secondary role. In addition, spherical shells with pre-imposed 2D modulations were used to measure instability growth in the acceleration phase of the implosions. The capsules were imploded using ignition-relevant laser pulses, and ablation-front modulation growth was measured using x-ray radiography for a shell convergence ratio of ∼2. The measured growth was in good agreement with that predicted, thus validating simulations for the fastest growing modulations with mode numbers up to 90 in the acceleration phase. Future experiments will be focused on measurements at higher convergence, higher-mode number modulations, and growth occurring during the deceleration phase.

• OSTI ID: 22253092
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 21, Issue 5; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
HEAVY ION FUSION REACTIONS
IMPLOSIONS
NEUTRONS
PERFORMANCE
THERMONUCLEAR REACTIONS
TRITIUM
X-RAY RADIOGRAPHY