Limitation on Prepulse Level for Cone-Guided Fast-Ignition Inertial Confinement Fusion

Journal Article · Fri Feb 05 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.104.055002· OSTI ID:21386780

MacPhee, A G; Divol, L; Kemp, A J; Chen, C D; Chen, H; Hey, D S; Henesian, M; Key, M H; Le Pape, S; Mackinnon, A J; Patel, P K; Phillips, T W; Tabak, M; Town, R; Wilks, S C ^[1]; Akli, K U; Stephens, R B ^[2]; Beg, F N; Wei, M S ^[3]; Fedosejevs, R J ^[4]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California (United States)
2. General Atomics, San Diego, California (United States)
3. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, California (United States)
4. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Alberta (Canada)

The viability of fast-ignition (FI) inertial confinement fusion hinges on the efficient transfer of laser energy to the compressed fuel via multi-MeV electrons. Preformed plasma due to the laser prepulse strongly influences ultraintense laser plasma interactions and hot electron generation in the hollow cone of an FI target. We induced a prepulse and consequent preplasma in copper cone targets and measured the energy deposition zone of the main pulse by imaging the emitted K{sub {alpha}} radiation. Simulation of the radiation hydrodynamics of the preplasma and particle in cell modeling of the main pulse interaction agree well with the measured deposition zones and provide an insight into the energy deposition mechanism and electron distribution. It was demonstrated that a under these conditions a 100 mJ prepulse eliminates the forward going component of {approx}2-4 MeV electrons.

• OSTI ID: 21386780
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 5; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.055002; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
DEPOSITION
DISTRIBUTION
ELECTRONS
HYDRODYNAMICS
IMPACT FUSION
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT
INTERACTIONS
LASERS
MEV RANGE
PLASMA
PULSES
SIMULATION
VIABILITY
CONFINEMENT
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY RANGE
FERMIONS
FLUID MECHANICS
LEPTONS
MECHANICS
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
SYNTHESIS
THERMONUCLEAR REACTIONS