Design and modeling of ignition targets for the National Ignition Facility
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)
Several targets are described that in simulations give yields of 1--30 MJ when indirectly driven by 0.9--2 MJ of 0.35 {mu}m laser light. The article describes the targets, the modeling that was used to design them, and the modeling done to set specifications for the laser system in the proposed National Ignition Facility. Capsules with beryllium or polystyrene ablators are enclosed in gold hohlraums. All the designs utilize a cryogenic fuel layer; it is very difficult to achieve ignition at this scale with a noncryogenic capsule. It is necessary to use multiple bands of illumination in the hohlraum to achieve sufficiently uniform x-ray irradiation, and to use a low-{ital Z} gas fill in the hohlraum to reduce filling of the hohlraum with gold plasma. Critical issues are hohlraum design and optimization, Rayleigh--Taylor instability modeling, and laser--plasma interactions.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 55954
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 2; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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