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Title: Development and modeling of a polar-direct-drive exploding pusher platform at the National Ignition Facility

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5025724 · OSTI ID:1566028
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  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  2. Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Berkshire (United Kingdom)
  3. Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)
  4. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  5. General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)

High-intensity laser facilities, such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF), allow the experimental investigation of plasmas under extreme, high-energy-density conditions. Motivated by validating models for collisional heat-transfer processes in high-energy-density plasmas, we have developed an exploding pusher platform for use at the NIF in the polar-direct-drive configuration. The baseline design employs a 3 mm-diameter capsule, an 18 μm-thick CH ablator, and Ar-doped D2 gas to achieve several keV electron-ion temperature separations with relatively low convergence ratios. In an initial series of shots at the NIF—N160920–003, -005, and N160921–001—the ratio of the laser intensity at different polar angles was varied to optimize the symmetry of the implosion. In this work, we summarize experimental results from the shot series and present pre- and post-shot analysis. Although the polar-direct-drive configuration is inherently asymmetric, we successfully tuned a post-shot 1D model to a set of key implosion performance metrics. The post-shot model has proven effective for extrapolating capsule performance to higher incident laser drive. Overall, the simplicity of the platform and the efficacy of the post-shot 1D model make the polar-direct-drive exploding pusher platform attractive for a variety of applications beyond the originally targeted study of collisional processes in high-energy-density plasmas.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1566028
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1462156
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL--744974; 899581
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 25; ISSN 1070-664X
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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