Plastic ablator ignition capsule design for the National Ignition Facility

Journal Article · Tue Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 2009 · Physics of Plasmas

OSTI ID:986623

Clark, D S; Haan, S W; Hammel, B A; Salmonson, J D; Callahan, D A; Town, R P

The National Ignition Campaign, tasked with designing and fielding targets for fusion ignition experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF), has carried forward three complementary target designs for the past several years: a beryllium ablator design, a plastic ablator design, and a high-density carbon or synthetic diamond design. This paper describes current simulations and design optimization to develop the plastic ablator capsule design as a candidate for the first ignition attempt on NIF. The trade-offs in capsule scale and laser energy that must be made to achieve a comparable ignition probability to that with beryllium are emphasized. Large numbers of 1-D simulations, meant to assess the statistical behavior of the target design, as well as 2-D simulations to assess the target's susceptibility to Rayleigh-Taylor growth are presented.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 986623
• Report Number(s): LLNL-JRNL-423070
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 17; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
BERYLLIUM
CARBON
DESIGN
DIAMONDS
IGNITION
LASERS
OPTIMIZATION
PLASTICS
PROBABILITY
TARGETS
US NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY