Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: Plasma expansion and relativistic filamentation in intense laser-irradiated cone targets

Abstract

We report that compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) cone targets have been shown to produce increased MeV photons on the NIF-ARC by 10× over flat targets. Multiple x-ray frames can potentially be generated by firing the NIF-ARC's beamlets into distinct cone targets at few nanosecond relative delays. This requires that the cone targets with delayed beams are not degraded by their proximity to previous targets. One concern is that the spatial wings of a beam fired into one target can fall on neighboring targets, producing a preformed plasma that may interfere with laser light reaching the tip of the cone. In this work, 3D hydra simulations of realistic targets and beam parameters show that hundreds of micrometer scale length preplasmas are produced in cones within 1 mm of the laser spot. 2D particle-in-cell simulations of the intense main pulse in this preplasma indicate a density threshold for the onset of relativistic filamentation in our conditions. Applying our modeling approach to a NIF-ARC shot with an intentional 15 J prepulse yields good agreement with experimental results.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
OSTI Identifier:
1860656
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1830422
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-824816
Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X; 1037357; TRN: US2305402
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC52-07NA27344; 19-SI-002; 17-ERD-039
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physics of Plasmas
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 28; Journal Issue: 11; Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY

Citation Formats

Cochran, G. E., Kemp, A. J., Wilks, S. C., Kerr, S. M., Williams, G. J., Alessi, D. A., Di Nicola, J.-M. G., Hermann, M. R., Kalantar, D. H., Lanier, T. E., Marinak, M. M., Martinez, D., Prantil, M. A., Widmayer, C., Williams, W. H., and Mackinnon, A. J. Plasma expansion and relativistic filamentation in intense laser-irradiated cone targets. United States: N. p., 2021. Web. doi:10.1063/5.0065725.
Copy to clipboard
Cochran, G. E., Kemp, A. J., Wilks, S. C., Kerr, S. M., Williams, G. J., Alessi, D. A., Di Nicola, J.-M. G., Hermann, M. R., Kalantar, D. H., Lanier, T. E., Marinak, M. M., Martinez, D., Prantil, M. A., Widmayer, C., Williams, W. H., & Mackinnon, A. J. Plasma expansion and relativistic filamentation in intense laser-irradiated cone targets. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0065725
Copy to clipboard
Cochran, G. E., Kemp, A. J., Wilks, S. C., Kerr, S. M., Williams, G. J., Alessi, D. A., Di Nicola, J.-M. G., Hermann, M. R., Kalantar, D. H., Lanier, T. E., Marinak, M. M., Martinez, D., Prantil, M. A., Widmayer, C., Williams, W. H., and Mackinnon, A. J. Tue . "Plasma expansion and relativistic filamentation in intense laser-irradiated cone targets". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0065725. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1860656.
Copy to clipboard
@article{osti_1860656,
title = {Plasma expansion and relativistic filamentation in intense laser-irradiated cone targets},
author = {Cochran, G. E. and Kemp, A. J. and Wilks, S. C. and Kerr, S. M. and Williams, G. J. and Alessi, D. A. and Di Nicola, J.-M. G. and Hermann, M. R. and Kalantar, D. H. and Lanier, T. E. and Marinak, M. M. and Martinez, D. and Prantil, M. A. and Widmayer, C. and Williams, W. H. and Mackinnon, A. J.},
abstractNote = {We report that compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) cone targets have been shown to produce increased MeV photons on the NIF-ARC by 10× over flat targets. Multiple x-ray frames can potentially be generated by firing the NIF-ARC's beamlets into distinct cone targets at few nanosecond relative delays. This requires that the cone targets with delayed beams are not degraded by their proximity to previous targets. One concern is that the spatial wings of a beam fired into one target can fall on neighboring targets, producing a preformed plasma that may interfere with laser light reaching the tip of the cone. In this work, 3D hydra simulations of realistic targets and beam parameters show that hundreds of micrometer scale length preplasmas are produced in cones within 1 mm of the laser spot. 2D particle-in-cell simulations of the intense main pulse in this preplasma indicate a density threshold for the onset of relativistic filamentation in our conditions. Applying our modeling approach to a NIF-ARC shot with an intentional 15 J prepulse yields good agreement with experimental results.},
doi = {10.1063/5.0065725},
journal = {Physics of Plasmas},
number = 11,
volume = 28,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Nov 16 00:00:00 EST 2021},
month = {Tue Nov 16 00:00:00 EST 2021}
}
Copy to clipboard
Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0065725
Copyright Statement
Other availability
Search WorldCat Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Save / Share:
Export Metadata
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.

Works referenced in this record:

Self-focusing of short intense pulses in plasmas
journal, January 1987

  • Sun, Guo-Zheng; Ott, Edward; Lee, Y. C.
  • Physics of Fluids, Vol. 30, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.866349

Microengineering Laser Plasma Interactions at Relativistic Intensities
journal, February 2016

Fast ignition realization experiment with high-contrast kilo-joule peta-watt LFEX laser and strong external magnetic field
journal, May 2016

  • Fujioka, Shinsuke; Arikawa, Yasunobu; Kojima, Sadaoki
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4948278

How well do time-integrated K α images represent hot electron spatial distributions?
journal, July 2011

  • Ovchinnikov, V. M.; Kemp, G. E.; Schumacher, D. W.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 7
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.3609819

Order-of-magnitude increase in laser-target coupling at near-relativistic intensities using compound parabolic concentrators
journal, March 2021

Ignition and high gain with ultrapowerful lasers
journal, May 1994

  • Tabak, Max; Hammer, James; Glinsky, Michael E.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 1, Issue 5, p. 1626-1634
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.870664

Bremsstrahlung spectrum and photon dose from short-pulse high-intensity laser interaction on various metal targets
journal, November 2019

  • Compant La Fontaine, A.; Courtois, C.; Gobet, F.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.5118361

Hot Electron Temperature and Coupling Efficiency Scaling with Prepulse for Cone-Guided Fast Ignition
journal, March 2012

Increased efficiency of short-pulse laser-generated proton beams from novel flat-top cone targets
journal, May 2008

  • Flippo, K. A.; d’Humières, E.; Gaillard, S. A.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 15, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.2918125

Visualizing fast electron energy transport into laser-compressed high-density fast-ignition targets
journal, January 2016

  • Jarrott, L. C.; Wei, M. S.; McGuffey, C.
  • Nature Physics, Vol. 12, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1038/nphys3614

VISRAD—A 3-D view factor code and design tool for high-energy density physics experiments
journal, September 2003

High-energy (>70 keV) x-ray conversion efficiency measurement on the ARC laser at the National Ignition Facility
journal, March 2017

  • Chen, Hui; Hermann, M. R.; Kalantar, D. H.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 24, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4978493

Coupling of high-intensity laser light to fast electrons in cone-guided fast ignition
journal, December 2012

Self-focusing and guiding of short laser pulses in ionizing gases and plasmas
journal, January 1997

  • Esarey, E.; Sprangle, P.; Krall, J.
  • IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, Vol. 33, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1109/3.641305

Flash Kα radiography of laser-driven solid sphere compression for fast ignition
journal, June 2016

  • Sawada, H.; Lee, S.; Shiroto, T.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 25
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4954383

Time-resolved compression of a capsule with a cone to high density for fast-ignition laser fusion
journal, December 2014

  • Theobald, W.; Solodov, A. A.; Stoeckl, C.
  • Nature Communications, Vol. 5, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6785

High-resolution multi-MeV x-ray radiography using relativistic laser-solid interaction
journal, February 2011

  • Courtois, C.; Edwards, R.; Compant La Fontaine, A.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.3551738

Characterisation of a MeV Bremsstrahlung x-ray source produced from a high intensity laser for high areal density object radiography
journal, August 2013

  • Courtois, C.; Edwards, R.; Compant La Fontaine, A.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 8
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4818505

Using time-integrated K α images to study refluxing and the extent of pre-plasmas in intense laser-plasma experiment
journal, November 2011

  • Ovchinnikov, V. M.; Schumacher, D. W.; Kemp, G. E.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.3656957

Beyond the ponderomotive limit: Direct laser acceleration of relativistic electrons in sub-critical plasmas
journal, April 2016

  • Arefiev, A. V.; Khudik, V. N.; Robinson, A. P. L.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 23, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4946024

Increased laser-accelerated proton energies via direct laser-light-pressure acceleration of electrons in microcone targets
journal, May 2011

  • Gaillard, S. A.; Kluge, T.; Flippo, K. A.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.3575624

High proton energies from cone targets: electron acceleration mechanisms
journal, February 2012

Direct electron acceleration in multi-kilojoule, multi-picosecond laser pulses
journal, October 2020

  • Kemp, A. J.; Wilks, S. C.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 27, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1063/5.0007159

The Scattered Light Time-history Diagnostic suite at the National Ignition Facility
journal, March 2021

  • Rosenberg, M. J.; Hernandez, J. E.; Butler, N.
  • Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 92, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1063/5.0040558

Limitation on Prepulse Level for Cone-Guided Fast-Ignition Inertial Confinement Fusion
journal, February 2010

Magnetized fast isochoric laser heating for efficient creation of ultra-high-energy-density states
journal, September 2018

Inhibition of fast electron energy deposition due to preplasma filling of cone-attached targets
journal, January 2008

  • Baton, S. D.; Koenig, M.; Fuchs, J.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 15, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.2903054

Principles of solar concentrators of a novel design
journal, October 1974

Plasma Physics via Computer Simulation
book, January 1991

Effects of Preplasma Scale Length and Laser Intensity on the Divergence of Laser-Generated Hot Electrons
journal, February 2013

Enhancements in laser-generated hot-electron production via focusing cone targets at short pulse and high contrast
journal, May 2021

Spatio-temporal focal spot characterization and modeling of the NIF ARC kilojoule picosecond laser
journal, January 2021

  • Williams, Wade H.; Crane, John K.; Alessi, David A.
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 60, Issue 8
  • DOI: 10.1364/AO.416846

Relativistic laser driven electron accelerator using micro-channel plasma targets
journal, March 2019

  • Snyder, J.; Ji, L. L.; George, K. M.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 26, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.5087409

Effect of plasma hydrodynamics on laser-produced bremsstrahlung MeV photon dose
journal, November 2020

  • Courtois, C.; Compant La Fontaine, A.; Bonnet, T.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 27, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1063/5.0019816

Three-dimensional HYDRA simulations of National Ignition Facility targets
journal, May 2001

  • Marinak, M. M.; Kerbel, G. D.; Gentile, N. A.
  • Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 8, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.1356740
    Sort by:
    [ × clear filter / sort ]

    Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections: