Experimental Program to Elucidate and Control Stimulated Brillouin and Raman Backscattering in Long-Scale Plasmas

Conference · Mon Oct 19 04:00:00 EDT 1998

OSTI ID:759442

Fernandez, J C ^[1]; Cobble, J A; Montgomery, D S; Wilke, M D

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory

Laser-plasma instability is a serious concern for indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion (ICF), where laser beams illuminate the interior of a cavity (called a hohlraum) to produce X-rays to drive the implosion of a fusion capsule. Stimulated Raman and Brillouin backscattering (SRS and SBS) could result in unacceptably high laser reflectivities. Unfortunately, it is impossible at present to fully simulate these processes realistically. The authors experimental program aims to understand these instabilities by pursuing a dual strategy. (1) They use a gas-filled hohlraum design, which best approaches ignition-hohlraum conditions, on the Nova laser to identify important non linear trends. (2) They are shifting towards more fundamental experiments with a nearly diffraction-limited interaction laser beam illuminating extremely well characterized plasmas on the Trident laser facility at Los Alamos to probe the relevant fundamental processes.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Defense Programs (DP) (US)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 759442
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-98-4570
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
BACKSCATTERING
BRILLOUIN EFFECT
IMPLOSIONS
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT
PLASMA INSTABILITY
RAMAN EFFECT
THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS