Studies on the motion and radiation of interior plasmas in gas-filled hohlraums with different laser entrance hole sizes

An experiment on 100 k J laser facility is performed to study the motive features and radiation properties of plasmas from different areas inside gas-filled cylindrical hohlraums.These hohlraums are designed to possess one open end and one laser entrance hole(LEH)with different diameters,which would or not result in the blocking of the LEH.An x-ray streak camera that is set at 16 degrees with respect to the hohlraum axis is applied to acquire the timeresolved x-ray images from the open end.Based on the images,we can study the evolutions of the wall plasma,corona bubble plasma and LEH plasma simultaneously through an equivalent view field of hohlraum interior.Multi-group flat response x-ray detectors are applied to measure the x-ray fluxes.In order to understand these characteristics,our two-dimensional radiation hydrodynamic code is used to simulate the experimental results.For the accuracy of reproduction,dielectronic recombination and two parameter corrections are applied in our code.Based on the comparison between experiments and simulations,we quantitatively understand the blocking process of LEH and the motion effects of other plasmas.The calibrated code is beneficial to design the gas-filled hohlraum in a nearby parameter space,especially the limit size of LEH.

First experimental comparisons of laser-plasma interactions between spherical and cylindrical hohlraums at SGⅢ laser facility

We present our recent laser-plasmas instability(LPI)comparison experiment at the SGIII laser facility between the spherical and cylindrical hohlraums.Three kinds of filling are considered:vacuum,gas-filling with or without a capsule inside.A spherical hohlraum of 3.6 mm in diameter,and a cylindrical hohlraum of 2.4 mm?4.3 mm are used.The capsule diameter is 0.96 mm.A flat-top laser pulse with 3 ns duration and up to 92.73 kJ energy is used.The experiment has shown that the LPI level in the spherical hohlraum is close to that of the outer beam in the cylindrical hohlraum,while much lower than that of the inner beam.The experiment is further simulated by using our 2-dimensional radiation hydrodynamic code LARED-Integration,and the laser back-scattering fraction and the stimulated Raman scatter(SRS)spectrum are post-processed by the high efficiency code of laser interaction with plasmas HLIP.According to the simulation,the plasma waves are strongly damped and the SRS is mainly developed at the plasma conditions of electron density from 0.08 n_(c) to 0.1 n_(c) and electron temperature from 1.5 keV to 2.0 keV inside the hohlraums.However,obvious differences between the simulation and experiment are found,such as that the SRS back-scattering is underestimated,and the numerical SRS spectrum peaks at a larger wavelength and at a later time than the data.These dif-ferences indicate that the development of a 3D radiation hydrodynamic code,with more accurate physics models,is mandatory for spherical hohlraum study.

First demonstration of improving laser propagation inside the spherical hohlraums by using the cylindrical laser entrance hole

The octahedral spherical hohlraums have natural superiority in maintaining high radiation symmetry during the entire capsule implosion process in indirect drive inertial confinement fusion.While,in contrast to the cylindrical hohlraums,the narrow space between the laser beams and the spherical hohlraum wall is usually commented.In this Letter,we address this crucial issue and report our experimental work conducted on the SGIII-prototype laser facility which unambiguously demonstrates that a simple design of cylindrical laser entrance hole(LEH)can dramatically improve the laser propagation inside the spherical hohlraums.In addition,the laser beam deflection in the hohlraum is observed for the first time in the experiments.Our 2-dimensional simulation results also verify qualitatively the advantages of the spherical hohlraums with cylindrical LEHs.Our results imply the prospect of adopting the cylindrical LEHs in future spherical ignition hohlraum design.

Tamping the movement of the laser absorption cutoff position using gold foam hohlraum

In indirect-driven laser fusion experiments,the movement of the laser absorption layer will distort the radiation uniformity on the capsule.The gold foam has advantages in symmetry control and lowering wall plasma blowoff when used in an inertial confinement fusion(ICF)hohlraum.This work investigates the motion of the laser absorption cutoff position using lowdensity foam gold walls.It is found that the motion of the laser absorption cutoff position can be significantly mitigated through optimal initial low density,tailored to a specific laser shape.For a short square laser pulse,the laser absorption cutoff position remains almost stationary at an initial density of approximately 0.6 g cm^(-3).For a long-shaped laser pulse,the minimal motion of the laser absorption cutoff position is observed at an initial density of about 0.1 g cm^(-3).This approach allows for the adjustment of the symmetry of the hohlraum radiation source.The insights gained from this study serve as a crucial reference for optimizing the hohlraum wall density.

A new ignition hohlraum design for indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion

In this paper,a six-cylinder-port hohlraum is proposed to provide high symmetry flux on capsule.It is designed to ignite a capsule with 1.2-mm radius in indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion（ICF）.Flux symmetry and laser energy are calculated by using three-dimensional view factor method and laser energy balance in hohlraum.Plasma conditions are analyzed based on the two-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic simulations.There is no Y_（lm）（l≤4） asymmetry in the six-cylinder-port hohlraum when the influences of laser entrance holes（LEHs） and laser spots cancel each other out with suitable target parameters.A radiation drive with 300 eV and good flux symmetry can be achieved by using a laser energy of 2.3 MJ and peak power of 500 TW.According to the simulations,the electron temperature and the electron density on the wall of laser cone are high and low,respectively,which are similar to those of outer cones in the hohlraums on National Ignition Facility（NTF）.And the laser intensity is also as low as those of NIF outer cones.So the backscattering due to laser plasma interaction（LPI） is considered to be negligible.The six-cyliner-port hohlraum could be superior to the traditional cylindrical hohlraum and the octahedral hohlraum in both higher symmetry and lower backscattering without supplementary technology at an acceptable laser energy level.It is undoubted that the hohlraum will add to the diversity of ICF approaches.

Progress in octahedral spherical hohlraum study

In this paper,we give a review of our theoretical and experimental progress in octahedral spherical hohlraum study.From our theoretical study,the octahedral spherical hohlraums with 6 Laser Entrance Holes(LEHs)of octahedral symmetry have robust high symmetry during the capsule implosion at hohlraum-to-capsule radius ratio larger than 3.7.In addition,the octahedral spherical hohlraums also have potential superiority on low backscattering without supplementary technology.We studied the laser arrangement and constraints of the octahedral spherical hohlraums,and gave a design on the laser arrangement for ignition octahedral hohlraums.As a result,the injection angle of laser beams of 50°-60°was proposed as the optimum candidate range for the octahedral spherical hohlraums.We proposed a novel octahedral spherical hohlraum with cylindrical LEHs and LEH shields,in order to increase the laser coupling efficiency and improve the capsule symmetry and to mitigate the influence of the wall blowoff on laser transport.We studied on the sensitivity of the octahedral spherical hohlraums to random errors and compared the sensitivity among the octahedral spherical hohlraums,the rugby hohlraums and the cylindrical hohlraums,and the results show that the octahedral spherical hohlraums are robust to these random errors while the cylindrical hohlraums are the most sensitive.Up till to now,we have carried out three experiments on the spherical hohlraum with 2 LEHs on Shenguang(SG)laser facilities,including demonstration of improving laser transport by using the cylindrical LEHs in the spherical hohlraums,spherical hohlraum energetics on the SGIII prototype laser facility,and comparisons of laser plasma instabilities between the spherical hohlraums and the cylindrical hohlraums on the SGIII laser facility.

Simulations on the multi-shell target ignition driven by radiation pulse in Z-pinch dynamic hohlraum

We present the first simulation results of a multi-shell target ignition driven by Z-pinch dynamic hohlraum radiation pulse.The radiation pulse is produced with a special Z-pinch dynamic hohlraum configuration,where the hohlraum is composed of a single metal liner,a low-Z plastic foam,and a high-Z metallic foam.The implosion dynamics of a hohlraum and a multi-shell target are investigated separately by the one-dimensional code MULTI-IFE.When the peak drive current is 50 MA,simulations suggest that an x-ray pulse with nearly constant radiation temperature(-310 eV)and a duration about 9 ns can be obtained.A small multi-shell target with a radius of 1.35 mm driven by this radiation pulse is able to achieve volumetric ignition with an energy gain(G)about 6.19,where G is the ratio of the yield to the absorbed radiation.Through this research,we better understand the effects of non-uniformities and hydrodynamics instabilities in Z-pinch dynamic hohlraum.

Numerical studies on the radiation uniformity of Z-pinch dynamic hohlraum

Radiation uniformity is important for Z-pinch dynamic hohlraum driven fusion. In order to understand the radiation uniformity of Z-pinchdynamic hohlraum, the code MULTI-2D with a new developed magnetic field package is employed to investigate the related physical processeson Julong-I facility with drive current about 7e8 MA. Numerical simulations suggest that Z-pinch dynamic hohlraum with radiation temperaturemore than 100 eV can be created on Julong-I facility. Although some X-rays can escape out of the hohlraum from Z-pinch plasma and electrodes, the radiation field near the foam center is quite uniform after a transition time. For the load parameters used in this paper, the transitiontime for the thermal wave transports from r = 1 mm to r = 0 mm is about 2.0 ns. Implosion of a testing pellet driven by cylindrical dynamichohlraum shows that symmetrical implosion is hard to achieve due to the relatively slow propagation speed of thermal wave and the compressionof cylindrical shock in the foam. With the help of quasi-spherical implosion, the hohlraum radiation uniformity and corresponding pelletimplosion symmetry can be significantly improved thanks to the shape modulation of thermal wave front and shock wave front.

Analysis of hohlraum energetics of the SG series and the NIF experiments with energy balance model

The basic energy balance model is applied to analyze the hohlraum energetics data from the Shenguang(SG)series laser facilities and the National Ignition Facility(NIF)experiments published in the past few years.The analysis shows that the overall hohlraum energetics data are in agreement with the energy balance model within 20%deviation.The 20%deviation might be caused by the diversity in hohlraum parameters,such as material,laser pulse,gas filling density,etc.In addition,the NIF's ignition target designs and our ignition target designs given by simulations are also in accordance with the energy balance model.This work confirms the value of the energy balance model for ignition target design and experimental data assessment,and demonstrates that the NIF energy is enough to achieve ignition if a 1D spherical radiation drive could be created,meanwhile both the laser plasma instabilities and hydrodynamic instabilities could be suppressed.

A Full Aperture Backscattering Light Diagnostic System Installed on the Shenguang-III Prototype Laser Facility

A full aperture backscattering light diagnostic system （FABLDS） implemented on the Shen Guang-Ⅲ Prototype Laser Facility is described in the paper. FABLDS measures both stimulated brillouin scattering （SBS） and stimulated Raman scattering （SRS） with a series of optical detectors. Energy sensors record the integrated energy, and streak cameras coupled with spectrometers measure the temporal spectrum of the backscattering light. This paper provides an overview of the FABLDS and detailed descriptions of the optical path. Special components, including off-axis parabolic mirror, spatial filter and optical light filters, are incorporated along the beam path for purifying the scattering light. Several hohlraum targets were employed, including C5H12 gas-filled targets and empty targets in the experiments. Results presented in the paper indicate that the fraction of backscatter light has been obviously shrinked when the laser is smoothed by continuous phase plates （CPP）.

Influence analysis of symmetry on capsule in six-cylinder-port hohlraum

We have investigated the flux symmetry on the capsule in a six-cylinder-port hohlraum for improving the design of the hohlraum. The influence factors of drive symmetry on the capsule in the hohlraum are studied, including laser power,laser beams arrangement, hohlraum geometric parameters, plasma condition, capsule convergence, etc. The x-ray radiation flux distribution on the capsule is obtained based on the three-dimensional view factor model. In the six-cylinder-port hohlraum, the main drive asymmetry is the C40 mode asymmetry. When the C40 mode asymmetry approaches zero, the drive symmetry on the capsule is optimal. Our results demonstrate that in order to have a high flux symmetry on the capsule in the laser main-pulse stage, more negative initial C40 modes are needed, which can be realized by adjusting the hohlraum geometry parameters. The hohlraum with column length L_H = 4.81 mm has an optimal symmetry in the laser main-pulse stage.

Target alignment in the Shen-Guang Ⅱ Upgrade laser facility

The Shen-Guang II Upgrade(SG-Ⅱ-U) laser facility consists of eight high-power nanosecond laser beams and one shortpulse picosecond petawatt laser. It is designed for the study of inertial confinement fusion(ICF), especially for conducting fast ignition(FI) research in China and other basic science experiments. To perform FI successfully with hohlraum targets containing a golden cone, the long-pulse beam and cylindrical hohlraum as well as the short-pulse beam and cone target alignment must satisfy tight specifications(30 and 20 μm rms for each case). To explore new ICF ignition targets with six laser entrance holes(LEHs), a rotation sensor was adapted to meet the requirements of a three-dimensional target and correct beam alignment. In this paper, the strategy for aligning the nanosecond beam based on target alignment sensor(TAS) is introduced and improved to meet requirements of the picosecond lasers and the new six LEHs hohlraum targets in the SG-II-U facility. The expected performance of the alignment system is presented, and the alignment error is also discussed.

Spatio-temporal evolution of the optical field on a hohlraum wall at the rising edge of a flat-topped pulse

Considering the time delay in different hohlraum wall positions caused by oblique incidence,the spatio-temporal optical field distribution characteristics of a hohlraum wall,especially during the rising edge of a flat-topped pulse,is simulated by a fast Fourier transform method together with chromatography.Results demonstrate that beam propagation along the hohlraum wall is a push-broom process with complex dynamic spatial–temporal evolution.In the first few picoseconds,the optical intensity of the front position increases rapidly,while that of the rear position is relatively weak.The ratio R of the optical intensity during the rising edge is smaller than that of the steady state.R gradually increases and finally tends to the value of the steady state with time.Calculation also shows that,with shorter total width of the rising edge,R of the optical field decreases and the difference compared to the steady state becomes larger.The evolution is more severe with smaller angle of inclination.

Beam guiding system geometric arrangement in the target area of high-power laser drivers

With the increasing number of laser beams, the main difficulty in arranging beam guiding systems(BGSs) involves determining the corresponding relationships between the output and input ports to realize the identified light path length of all beams. Given the basic constraints of geometric arrangement, a BGS model is established, and a base-line algorithm is proposed to address the difficulty mentioned above. Boundary conditions of target area and target chamber are discussed to increase the number of laser beams, and a maximum value exists for a specific target area. Finally, the compatibility of a cylindrical hohlraum target chamber with a spherical hohlraum is analyzed, and a moveable final optics assembly is proposed to execute the switch between the two different targets.

Assembly and metrology of NIF target subassemblies using robotic systems

With European Laser Facilities such as the Extreme Light Infrastructure(ELI) and the Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields(HIBEF) scheduled to come online within the next couple of years, General Atomics, as a major supplier of targets and target components for the High Energy Density Physics community in the United States, is gearing up to meet their demand for large numbers of low cost targets. Using the production of a subassembly for the National Ignition Facility's fusion targets as an example, we demonstrate that through automation of assembly tasks, the design of targets and their experimental setup can be fairly complex while keeping the assembly time and cost as a minimum.A six-axis Mitsubishi robot is used in combination with vision feedback and a force–torque sensor to assemble target subassemblies of different scales and designs with minimal change of tooling, allowing for design flexibility and short assembly setup times. Implementing automated measurement routines on a Nikon NEXIV microscope further reduces the effort required for target metrology, while electronic data collection and transfer complete a streamlined target production operation that can be adapted to a large variety of target designs.