Study of the spatial growth of stimulated Brillouin scattering in a gas-filled hohlraum via detecting the driven ion acoustic wave

In an experiment performed on the Shenguang-III prototype laser facility, collective Thomson scattering (TS) is used to study the spatialgrowth of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in a gas-filled hohlraum by detecting the SBS-driven ion acoustic wave. High-quality timeresolved SBS and TS spectra are obtained simultaneously in the experiment, and these are analyzed by a steady-state code based on theray-tracing model. The analysis indicates that ion–ion collisions may play an important role in suppressing SBS growth in the Au plasma;as aresult, the SBS excited in the filled gas region is dominant. In the early phase of the laser pulse, SBS originates primarily from the high-densityplasma at the edges of the interaction beam channel, which is piled up by the heating of the interaction beam. Throughout the duration of thelaser pulse, the presence of the TS probe beam might mitigate SBS by perturbing the density distribution around the region overlapping withthe interaction beam.

The effects of incident light wavelength difference on the collective stimulated Brillouin scattering in plasmas

The first laser–plasma interaction experiment using lasers of eight beams grouped into one octad has been conducted on the Shenguang Octopus facility.Although each beam intensity is below its individual threshold for stimulated Brillouin backscattering(SBS),collective behaviors are excited to enhance the octad SBS.In particular,when two-color/cone lasers with wavelength separation 0.3 nm are used,the backward SBS reflectivities show novel behavior in which beams of longer wavelength achieve higher SBS gain.This property of SBS can be attributed to the rotation of the wave vectors of common ion acoustic waves due to the competition of detunings between geometrical angle and wavelength separation.This mechanism is confirmed using massively parallel supercomputer simulations with the three-dimensional laser–plasma interaction code LAP3D.

Determination of laser entrance hole size for ignition-scale octahedral spherical hohlraums

A recently proposed octahedral spherical hohlraum with six laser entrance holes(LEHs)is an attractive concept for an upgraded laser facility aiming at a predictable and reproducible fusion gain with a simple target design.However,with the laser energies available at present,LEH size can be a critical issue.Owing to the uncertainties in simulation results,the LEH size should be determined on the basis of experimental evidence.However,determination of LEH size of an ignition target at a small-scale laser facility poses difficulties.In this paper,we propose to use the prepulse of an ignition pulse to determine the LEH size for ignition-scale hohlraums via LEH closure behavior,and we present convincing evidence from multiple diagnostics at the SGIII facility with ignition-scale hohlraum,laser prepulse,and laser beam size.The LEH closure observed in our experiment is in agreement with data from the National Ignition Facility.The total LEH area of the octahedral hohlraum is found to be very close to that of a cylindrical hohlraum,thus successfully demonstrating the feasibility of the octahedral hohlraum in terms of laser energy,which is crucially important for sizing an ignition-scale octahedrally configured laser system.This work provides a novel way to determine the LEH size of an ignition target at a small-scale laser facility,and it can be applied to other hohlraum configurations for the indirect drive approach.

Investigation of stimulated Raman scattering in longitudinal magnetized plasma by theory and kinetic simulation

Stimulated Raman scattering(SRS)in a longitudinal magnetized plasma is studied by theoretical analysis and kinetic simulation.The linear growth rate derived via one-dimensional fluid theory shows the dependence on the plasma density,electron temperature,and magnetic field intensity.One-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are carried out to examine the kinetic evolution of SRS under low magnetic intensity of w_c/w_0<0.01.There are two density regions distinguished in which the absolute growth of enveloped electrostatic waves and spectrum present quite different characteristics.In a relatively low-density plasma(ne~0.20 nc),the plasma wave presents typical absolute growth and the magnetic field alleviates linear SRS.While in the plasma whose density is near the cut-off point(ne~0.23 nc),the magnetic field induces a spectral splitting of the backscattering and forward-scattering waves.It has been observed in simulations and verified by theoretical analysis.Due to this effect,the onset of reflectivity delays,and the plasma waves form high-frequency oscillation and periodic envelope structure.The split wavenumber Dk/k0 is proportional to the magnetic field intensity and plasma density.These studies provide novel insight into the kinetic behavior of SRS in magnetized plasmas.