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A review article by John Lindl of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, published in Physics of Plasmas, November 1995. It covers ICF fundamentals, the history of indirect drive in the U.S. program, ignition physics, pulse shaping, implosion dynamics, hydrodynamic instability, capsule gain, hohlraum coupling and symmetry, and preheat. It also treats the National Ignition Facility ignition targets and inertial fusion energy. This is a published paper by someone else, kept in the archive as reference material.
AI-written summary; may contain errors.
Extracted text (machine-read; may contain errors)
Development of the indirect-drive approach to inertial confinement
fusion and the target physics basis for ignition and gain
John Lindi
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551
(Received 14 November 1994; accepted 14 June 1995)
Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is an approach to fusion that relies on the inertia of the fuel mass
to provide confinement. To achieve conditions under which inertial confinement is sufficient for
efficient thermonuclear burn, a capsule (generally a spherical shell) containing thermonuclear fuel
is compressed in an implosion process to conditions of high density and temperature. ICF capsules
rely on either electron conduction (direct drive) or x rays (indirect drive) for energy transport to
drive an implosion. In direct drive, the laser beams [or charged particle beams) are aimed directly
at a target. The laser energy is transferred to electrons by means of inverse bremsstrahlung or a
variety of plasma collective processes. In indirect drive, the driver energy (from laser beams or ion
beams) is first absorbed in a high-2 enclosure (a hohlraum), which surrounds the capsule. The
material heated by the driver emits x rays, which drive the capsule implosion. For optimally
designed targets, 70%-80% of the driver energy can be converted to x rays. The optimal hohlraum
geometry depends on the driver. Because of relaxed requirements on laser beam uniformity, and
reduced sensitivity to hydrodynamic instabilities, the U.S. ICF Program has concentrated most of its
effort since 1976 on the x-ray or indirect-drive approach to ICE As a result of years of experiments
and modeling, we are building an increasingly strong case for achieving ignition by indirect drive
on the proposed National Ignition Facility (NIF). The ignition target requirements for hohlraum
energetics, radiation symmetry, hydrodynamic instabilities and mix, laser plasma interaction, pulse
shaping, and ignition requirements are all consistent with experiments. The NIF laser design, at 1.8
MJ and 500 TW, has the margin to cover uncertainties in the baseline ignition targets. In addition,
data from the NIF will provide a solid database for ion-beam-driven hohlraums being considered for
future energy applications. In this paper we analyze the requirements for indirect drive ICF and
review the theoretical and experimental basis for these requirements. Although significant parts of
the discussion apply to both direct and indirect drive, the principal focus is on indirect
drive. 0 1995 American Institute of Physics.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. ICF OVERVIEW .......................... 3933
II. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF
INDIRECT DRIVE IN THE U.S. ICF
PROGRAM .............................. 3940
III. IGNITION PHYSICS. ..................... 3952
IV. PULSE SHAPING ......................... 3955
V. IMPLOSION DYNAMICS. ................. 3958
VI. HYDRODYNAMIC INSTABILITY ........... 3961
VII. CAPSULE GAIN .......................... 3969
VIII.
Ix.
X.
XI.
IXII.
XIII.
XIV. HOHLRAUM COUPLING EFFICIENCY. . . . . 3969
HOHLRAUM RADIATION UNIFORMITY.. . . 3979
COMBINED TESTS OF SYMMETRY AND
HYDRODYNAMIC INSTABILITY. . . . . . . . . . 3992
HOHLRAUM PLASMA CONDITIONS. . . . . . . 3994
HOT ELECTRON PREHEAT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4002
NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY AND
IGNITION TARGETS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4004
INERTIAL FUSION ENERGY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4015 I. ICF OVERVIEW
Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is an approach to fu-
sion that relies on the inertia of the fuel mass to provide
confinement. l-3
To achieve conditions under which inertial confinement
is sufficient for efficient thermonuclear burn, high-gain ICF
targets have features similar to those shown in Fig. 1. A
capsule generally is a spherica shell filled with low-density
gas (s1.0 mg/cm3). The shell is composed of an outer re-
gion, which forms the ablator, and an inner region of frozen
or liquid deuterium-tritium (DT), which forms the main
fuel. As shown in Fig. 2, the cross section4 for DT fusion
reactions is approximately two orders of magnitude larger
than that for the next largest reaction in the relevant tempera-
ture range, up to about 40 keV. Hence, ignition and high-gain
targets planned for the near term use DT fuel. Many of the
near-term targets discussed later, which only use neutrons for
diagnostic purposes, contain deuterium-deuterium (DD)
fuel.
Energy from a driver is delivered rapidly to the ablator,
which heats up and expands. As the ablator expands outward,
Phys. Plasmas 2 (ll), November 1995 1070-664X/95/2(1 1)/3933/92/$6.00 Q 1995 American Institute of Physics 3933
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Drive L Capsule ablator ensrgy 3 i
r.;-..
K Main
K VI’,, \ fuel layer
Driver-target coupling
3 I, 51 Oi5 W/cm2 or 5300 eV
To control:
l Absorption/preheat
. X-ray conversion
l Transport/drive I ~~~~~~~~ 2 =Conv;;rce = 20-35 j ,c”I”;~,9yo
L I L I 1
8
Stability: _L = in-filght L 25-35 =+ $ Z 4 x 1O”‘W/Cm* Or
AR aspect ratfo 250eV
surface cl000 ii
ignition: l Ti = ltj kev
l prHs - 0.3 gtcm * 4m,3-4x107cIn/s
for Eddvar = 1-2 MJ
FIG. 1. The target physics specifications on current ICF ignition targets include constraints on drive intensity, symmetry, stability, and ignition.
the rest of the shell is forced inward to conserve momentum.
The capsule behaves as a spherical, ablation-driven rocket.
The efficiency with which the fusion fuel is imploded typi-
cally lies in the range of 5%-15%. The work that can be
done on the imploding fuel is the product of the pressure
generated by the ablation process times the volume enclosed
by the shell. Hence, for a given pressure, a larger, thinner
shell that encloses more volume can be accelerated to a
higher velocity than can a thicker shell of the same mass.
The peak achievable implosion velocity determines the mini-
mum energy (and mass) required for ignition of the fusion
fuel in the shell.
In its final configuration, the fuel is nearly isobaric at
pressures up to -200 Gbars but consists of two effectively
distinct regions-a central hot spot. containing -2%-5% of
the fuel and a dense main fuel region comprising the remain-
ing mass. Fusion initiates in this central region, and a ther-
monuclear burn front propagates radially outward into the
main fuel, producing high gain. The efficient assembly of the
fuel into this configuration places stringent requirements on
IO-=
100 IO’ 102 ld
Tempetature (keV)
FIG. 2. Thermonuclear reaction rates are strongly temperature dependent,
and DT is by far the easiest fuel to ignite.
3934 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 the details of the driver coupling, including the time history
of the irradiance and the hydrodynamics of the implosion
In the implosion process, several features are important.
The in-flight aspect ratio (IFAR) is defined as the ratio of the
shell radius R as it implodes to its thickness AR, which is
less than the initial thickness because the shell is compressed
as it implodes. Hydrodynamic instabilities,5 similar to the
classical Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) fluid instability, impose an
upper limit on this ratio, which results in a minimum pres-
sure or absorbed driver h-radiance. For 25<IFAR<35, peak
values are - 100 Mbars and --lot5 W/cm2 for megajoule-
scale drivers. These minimum values depend on the required
implosion velocity, which is determined by the capsule size.
Minimum velocities are in the range of 3-4X107 cm/s for
megajoule scale lasers. Control of RT-induced mix of hot and
cold fuel is crucial to the successful formation of the central
hot spot.
The convergence ratio C, as defined in Fig. 1 is the ratio
of the initial outer radius of the ablator to the final com-
pressed radius of the hot spot. Typical convergence ratios to
the hot spot for an ignition or high-gain target design are
30-40. If a target with an initial radius RA and average ac-
celeration g has a location on its surface with acceleration
perturbation Sg, then the deviation from sphericity as it im-
plodes is given by
cTR=~& t2=:r(Cr--1).
An asymmetric implosion will convert less of the available
kinetic energy into compression and heating of the fuel. The
tolerable degree of asymmetry depends on the excess of
available kinetic energy above the ignition threshold, which
is discussed later. If we require that this deviation 6R be less
than r/4, where r is the final compressed radius, we have
sg &I 1 -e-----<
g u 4(C,-I)’
Review Article
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TABLE I. Total energy released will determine energy output, but only charged-particle energy is available for
self-ignition of ICF-size capsules.
E (MeV) E* (MeV)
(charged
particle) Energy/
firam
D+T-+He4(3.52 MeV)+n(14.06 MeV)
D+D-+He3(0.82)+n(2.45 MeV)
D+D+T(l.Ol MeV)+p(3.03 MeV)
D+He3-+He4(3.67 MeV)+p(14.67 MeV)
T+TtHe4+n+n 17.58 3.52 3.39x 10”
3.6 2.4 8.67X 10’”
18.34 18.34 3.53x10”
Il.32 1.82X 10”
where u is the implosion velocity. Since 3OGC,440 is typi-
cal, we require accelerations and velocities that are uniform
to about 1%.
The fuel conditions that must be achieved for efficient
burn and a high yield relative to the driver energy can be
obtained readily from an analysis of the bum of an inertially
confined fuel mass. The number of thermonuclear reactions
n per second is given by
where (au) is the reaction cross section averaged over a
Maxwellian distribution of particles, and for an equimolar
DT mixture,
where Nais the initial total number density. If we define the
burn fraction by +=2nlNo, then we have
4 No ~=-+1-+)2(ou).
If we assume that the Maxwell averaged cross section is
nearly constant over the burn duration, then we can integrate
this equation to obtain
-=--2C&), 4
l-4 2 (6)
where G- is the confinement time. In inertial confinement,
burn of an ignited fuel mass typically is quenched by hydro-
dynamic expansion. (For a capsule below the ignition thresh-
old, such as those on Nova, electron conduction usually
cools the fuel before hydroexpansion occurs, as discussed in
Sec. III.) From the outside of the fuel, a rarefaction moves
inward at the speed of sound, C,. By the time this rarefac-
tion has moved a fraction of the radius Y, the fuel density in
most of the fuel mass has dropped significantly, and the fuel
no longer burns efficiently. If we choose
r
7-- 3’ (7)
which would allow time for a rarefaction wave to propagate
across the dense main fuel layer in Fig. 1, we can write the
burn efficiency as
&=,(m) &.
s
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 For DT between 20 and 40 keV, which is typical of the burn
of ICF capsules, the ratio of the cross section to the sound
speed is nearly constant, and we have approximately
(p= pr Nor
Pr+6(g/cm2) M N,~+5x10*5(s/cm3j’ (9)
where we have related number density No to the mass den-
sity p by
/Vo=6.02x1023 +2.4X10z3, for DT. (10)
Equation (9) compares well with detailed numerical simula-
tions of most high-gain ICF targets.6Y7 We need pr=3 g/cm2
for a 33% burnup. As indicated in Eq. (9j, the pr require-
ment for ICF is equivalent to the Nr requirement generally
quoted for magnetic fusion energy (MEE) plasmas. The fac-
tor of 5 X 1 Or5 in the Nr formula uses the DT cross section at
20 keV. At 40 keV, the factor becomes 3X 1015. We can use
this burn efficiency formula to compare the fusion burn re-
quirements of MFE with those of ICF.
Both ICF and MFE refer to “ignition” of the plasma, but
ignition has different meanings for these two approaches to
fusion.
In MFE, which requires steady-state or near steady-state
operation for most energy production approaches, ignition is
defined in terms of power balance. In this approach, ignition
occurs when energy deposition from thermonuclear bum
products during one energy confinement time equals the en-
ergy required to heat the plasma to thermonuclear bum tem-
peratures. When this occurs in steady state, the plasma can
sustain itself indefinitely with no external heating.
The energy per gram required to heat a DT plasma is
given by
E DT heating =0.1152X 109T (J/g)=2.3X10y (J/g),
at 20 keV. with T,=Ti, (11)
where T, is electron temperature and Ti is ion temperature.
The thermonuclear burn products and energy content of vari-
ous thermonuclear fuels is given in Table I. In general, only
the charged-particle reaction products are available to heat
the fuel since most of the neutrons escape the plasma without
interacting. For DT, the alpha particle energy (E,=3.5 meV)
from the reaction is about 20% of the total energy produced.
If we assume that all of the alphas are deposited, then the
energy per gram deposited in the fuel is given by
Review Article 3935
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6.68X 10’Onr
E them~onuclear a particle= n T+ 5 x 10 I5 (Jk) t
at 20 keV. ( 2)
If we set EDT heating=Ethermonuclear a particle in this simple
model, ignition occurs for n7>1.7X lOI or pr=0.21 and
corresponds to a bum efficiency of about 3.4%.
Ignition in this sense is adequate for a MFE plasma if the
energy required to maintain the magnetic confinement is
much less than the energy to heat the plasma. Since the
magnetic-field energy is much greater than the plasma en-
ergy in magnetic confinement devices, it is generally as-
sumed that superconducting magnets would be used to mini-
mize the dissipation of magnetic field energy.
As a measure of the fusion power performance for a
MFE device, the fusion power gain is defined by Q = Pf/ Pi ,
where Pf is the fusion power and Pi is the input power. The
fusion power is given by
and the input power is given by
dV- f Pf,
where the integrals are over the plasma volume,
E,=3.34X lO”J/g is the energy per gram produced by DT
fusion reactions, and EDT heat& is the heat capacity of DT
from Eq. (11). In Eq. (14), one-fifth of Pf , which is all of the
a-particle energy, is assumed to be deposited in the plasma.
The energy confinement time 7s characterizes the rate at
which energy is lost from the plasma by cross-field transport
and radiation. Ignition occurs when P,=O.O or when Q =m.
An actual MFE reactor would run somewhat below the igni-
tion limit, to maintain a stable operating regime, so that a
Q-20 is desirable.’ Recent experiments’ with DT plasmas
have achieved Q = a.
In ICF, which is inherently pulsed, ignition occurs when
energy production and LY deposition from the central hot spot
are sufficient to initiate a self-sustaining bum wave that
propagates into the surrounding main fuel. To compensate
for driver and implosion inefficiencies, ICF targets must
have a high bum efficiency, and most of the fuel must be
heated by the burn wave propagating outward from the hot
spot.
Target gain, defined as the ratio of thermonuclear energy
produced to driver energy on target,is the closest equivalent
to Q in MFR. A described in Sec. XIV, energy production in
ICF requires target gains high enough that the product of
gain times driver efficiency is -10. Depending on driver
efficiency, target gains of 30-100 or more are required to
satisfy this condition.
Compression of the DT fuel mass makes it feasible, in
the laboratory, to achieve the pr =3 g/cm2 necessary for a
burn efficiency of 4, about a factor of 10 higher bum effi-
ciency than for an ignited MFE plasma. For a sphere, we
have Specific energy vs density for cold DT
Ideal Fermi fluid
Realistic equation of State
implosion
I I I
1 IO’ TO2 103 104
Density (gkm3}
FIG. 3. For densities of interest to ICF, Fermi-degenerate compression fe-
quires much less energy than does ignition.
(15)
Hence, the mass (and also driver energy at fixed coupling
efficiency) required for pr =3 g/cm2 scales as l/p’. At a nor-
mal liquid density of 0.21 g/cm3, more than 2.5 kg of DT is
required. If this much mass were ignited, it would yield
about 3X 10’” J or 7Okt. On the other hand, at a density of
400 g/cm3, a spherical shell with a thickness r/2 and radius
r would have pr=3 with a mass of 5 mg. This mass would
have a yield of about 6X IO8 J and is readily contained. At
five to six pulses per second, such targets could drive a 1 GW
reactor for power production.
As shown in Fig. 3, if the DT remains nearly Fermi
degenerate during compression, then compression is eco-
nomical because the energy required for compression is
small compared to that required for ignition of the same
mass of fuel, The Fermi compression energy can be obtained
from a simple estimate. Every Fermi particle occupies a
phase space volume of h3. Then N particles in a volume V
must occupy a phase space volume given by
4rr
d3x d3p =(2s+ I) V 3 P;=Nh3. WI
The sum is over spin states that are 2 for spin s = f particles.
The Fermi energy is defined by ef= Pf2/2m, where Pf is the
momentum of the highest energy particle or
= 14p2’3(glcm3). (17)
The average energy per particle is just 0,6ef, and the specific
energy per gram of DT, em, is given by
eor(J/g)=3 X 105p2”3(g/cm3). (1%
When there is a finite temperature, Eq. (18) becomes”
Eor=3X 105p2’3 1 i-0.02 [ ( T$2)] (19)
Equation (19) shows that the temperature of DT at a density
of 1 g/cm3 must remain below a few electron volts, or the
finite temperature corrections start becoming significant.
Equations (18) and (19) ignore ion contributions and mo-
3936 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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lecular effects that affect the real equation of state for DT.
Equation (18) is plotted in Fig. 3 for comparison with the
specific energy from a more accurate equation of state, such
as that given in the Sesame Tables.”
Although compression is energetically attractive and re-
duces the driver size required for efficient burn, high gain
also requires hot-spot ignition. For example, it takes 6.5 X IO4
J to compress 5 mg to 400 g/cm3. But to heat that mass to 5
keV would require about 3 X IO6 J. If the implosion had an
overall efficiency of 5%, the driver size would have to be
about 6X lo7 J. This is near the upper limit of what could be
considered for a laboratory driver, yet the target gain for a
burn efficiency of f would be only 10. On the other hand, if
the target can be ignited from a central hot spot containing
about 2% of the total mass, then the energy required to heat
this mass would be only about 6X 10” J. The total energy
invested in compression and ignition would be about
1.25X 10” J (2.5X IO7 J/g), the driver size would be 2.5X lo6
J, and the gain would be greater than 200. Depending on the
driver efficiency, target gains of 30-100 generally are re-
quired for most ICF applications. The hot spot forms during
compression from material at the center of the fuel, which is
on a high isentrope. The hot-spot temperature will increase
as long as the energy gained due to the PdV work done by
the imploding main fuel material and charged-particle energy
deposition exceed energy lost due to radiation and electron
thermal conduction,” as described in Sec. III. Once ignition
occurs, heating of the surrounding main fuel layer from elec-
tron conduction and a-particle deposition results in a ther-
monuclear burn wave that propagates outward into the main
fuel layer. The typical configuration of the compressed fuel
at ignition is shown in Fig. 1.
For effective self-heating, the hot spot pr must exceed
the a-particle range. The range energy relationship for cr
particlesi is approximated by Fraley14 as
where the first term is the interaction with electrons and the
second term is the interaction with ions. Here V=EJ3.5
MeV and po=0.25 g/cm3 is the density of solid DT. Figure
4(a) is a plot of the a-particle range as a function of T, (keV)
at various densities. At low temperature, most of the
a-particle energy is deposited into the electrons, as shown in
Fig. 4(b). For solid-density DT, most of the energy goes into
the electrons below a temperature of about 32 keV Fraley
et al. find that the &-particle range pXo (g/cm2) in solid-
density DT can be approximated by
p&&/cm’)= 1.5x10-‘T,5’4
1+8.2x10-3T;‘4’ (21)
where the electron temperature T, is in keV. At 10 keV, for
typical hot-spot densities of IO-100 g/cm3, the a particles
have a range of about 0.3 g/cm’. As discussed in Sec. III; a 10-z I IO 111rr , I,,,,,
1 1
$f!“) 102
‘” 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.6 0.9
4 (fraction of CL energy into ions)
FIG. 4. Efficient alpha capture requires prwO.3 g/cm”. (a) Alpha-particle
range pX, vs T, ; (b) alpha-energy absorption.
hot spot at a temperature of about 10 keV with a pr=0.3
g/cm2 is required for ignition of a self-sustaining burn wave
for typical high-gain ICF capsules. Ignition and propagating
burn are discussed further in Sec. XIII for targets being de-
signed for the NIF.
The implosion of an ICF capsule can be described by a
rocket equation: l5
1
TypIcal range
of efficiencies
for ablation-driven
spherical shell
10-2 - 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.6 1.0
Remaining rocket mass fraction, mflmO ET x
LlG. 5. Subsonic ablation follows an isothermal rocket equation. Radiation-
driven implosions typically have an efficiency of 1.5%~~20%. Direct-drive
efficiency depends on laser wavelength and illumination geometry, but is
typically 5%-10%; x=m/mO is the ratio of the final shell mass mf to the
initial mass mn .
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3937
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In this equation, P, is the ablation pressure, ti is the
mass ablation rate per unit area, ma is the initial shell mass,
and fnf is the fuel or payload mass. The rocket efficiency
versus mflmo is shown in Fig. 5 for both an ideal rocket and
an ablation-driven rocket. The peak efficiency of an ablation-
driven rocket is typically a factor of 4 or more smaller than
that of an ideal rocket because the exhaust is continually
heated by the incident flux driving the implosion. This is
further discussed in Sec. V on implosion dynamics.
ICF capsules rely on either electron conduction (direct
drive) or x rays (indirect drive) for energy transport to drive
an implosion. LaMI target
In direct drive, the laser beams (or charged particle
beams) are aimed directly at a target. The laser energy is
transferred to electrons by means of inverse bremsstrahlung
or a variety of plasma collective processes. This absorption
occurs at a particle density equal to or less than the plasma
critical density nc(cmm3)= 102’/h2, where X is the laser
wavelength in ,um. Electron conduction must transport the
energy to the ablation front, which typically has an electron
density of about 1024/cm3. Uniformity of the flux must be
obtained by direct overlap of a large number of very uniform
beams, or by lateral electron conduction smoothing. Until it
was shut down in December 1992, the Omega laser16*17 at the
University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics
(LLE) was the principal facility for direct-drive implosion
experiments in the United States. Omega was a 24-beam,
glass laser facility capable of delivering 2-3 kJ of 0.35 ,um
light in a 0.6 ns pulse. Lawrence Livermore National Labo-
ratory (LLNL), in collaboration with Rochester, is conduct-
ing planar experiments on the Nova laser’8*‘9 at LLNL to
investigate hydrodynamic instabilities and beam smoothing
in direct drive. These experiments use a single beam of Nova
delivering 2-3 kJ of energy in about 3 ns. GEKKO XII at
Osaka University in Japan is the principal facility outside the
United States for conducting direct-drive experiments. The
12-beam GEKKO laser2’ can deliver about 10 kJ of energy
in 1 ns at either 0.5 or 0.35 ,um. Rochester has completed
construction of a 60-beam upgrade to Omega. The Omega
Upgrade21.22 has achieved over 40 kJ of energy in a variety
of pulse shapes. The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is
constructing a KrF laser called NIKE,23,24 which is designed
to deliver 2-3 kJ of energy in a 3-4 ns pulse. This laser is
primarily intended as a testbed for a NRL beam-smoothing
technique called echelon-free ISI and as a technology devel-
opment program for kilojoule-scale KrF lasers with the pre-
cision needed for ICF applications. NIKE is scheduled to
begin target experiments in 1995. FIG. 6. For indirect-drive targets, Nova and National Ignition Facility ex-
periments are relevant to both laser and heavy-ion targets. Capsule implo-
sion and bum physics, as well as hohlraum energetics and x-ray transport,
are essentially driver independent.
optimally designed targets, 70%-80% of the driver energy
can be converted to x rays. The optimal hohlraum geometry
depends on the driver.
Schematic hohlraums for a laser and heavy-ion-beam
driver are shown in Fig. 6. The specific details of geometry
are chosen to achieve flux uniformity on the capsule. The
symmetry requirement will dictate driver beam placement
and hohlraum geometry, including such issues as the ratio of
capsule size to case size, hohlraum internal structure, and
various other details, as discussed in Sec. IX.
In general, laser-driven hohlraums designed to achieve
radiation symmetry with two laser entrance holes (LEHs) are
elongated with a length-to-diameter ratio greater than unity.
Such a geometry arises from the need to balance the absence
of x-ray emission from the LEH by locating the laser beams,
which have higher emission than the rest of the hohlraum
wall, relatively close to the LEH. In a spherical geometry,
proper placement of the beams would result in very high
angles of incidence as the beam pass through the LEHs. Such
high angles can result in clipping of the beam on the LEH or
a very large LEH. Alternatively, in a sphere, the beams can
be aimed past the capsule toward the opposite LEH. This can
work for short pulses, but capsule blowoff interferes with
beam propagation for longer pulses. There are some spheri-
cal laser-driven hohlraums that have more than two holes.
These designs must balance the increased LEH radiation
losses with a potentially smaller case.
Ion-driven hohlraums, such as that shown in Fig. 6, are
elongated because of the need to place internal shields for
symmetry control. Some spherical ion-driven hohlraums,
discussed in Sec. XIV, use more than two radiators.
Because of relaxed requirements on laser-beam unifor- The target physics specifications for laser-driven
mity and reduced sensitivity to hydrodynamic instabilities, indirect-drive ignition targets are shown in Fig. I. Driver-
the U.S. ICF Program has concentrated most of its effort target coupling issues, which include laser absorption, x-ray
since 1976 on the x-ray or indirect-drive approach to ICE In conversion, and transport, limit the x-ray temperature of
indirect drive, the driver energy, from laser beams or ion laser-driven hohlraums. This limitation is primarily the result
beams, is first absorbed in a high-Z enclosure, a “hohlraum,” of laser-driven parametric instabilities,25 which result in scat-
which surrounds the capsule. The material heated by the tering of laser light and production of high-energy electrons.
driver emits x rays, which drive the capsule implosion. For Light scattering degrades symmetry, and high-energy elec-
3938 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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1.0
Laser energy (MJ)
FIG. 7. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is being designed to demon-
strate ICF capsule ignition and propagating burn.
trons cause capsule preheat, which reduces the achievable
compression. For the typical ignition target designs described
in Sec. XIII, the hohlraum temperature is limited to about
300 eV or an equivalent x-ray intensity of about 10” W/cm”.
As discussed in Sec. XI, “Hohlraum Plasma Conditions,”
this temperature constraint limits the plasma density in the
laser propagation path to about 10% of the electron critical
density for 0.35 ,um laser light.
Given the x-ray flux limitations and the implosion veloc-
ity required for ignition, the flux onto the capsules must be
sufficiently uniform to allow the capsules to converge by a
factor of 25-35, as discussed above. For a capsule to con-
verge this far and remain nearly spherical, x-ray fluxes must
be uniform to 1%-2%. To achieve this level of x-ray flux
uniformity requires a hohlraum that is large compared to the
capsule dimension. In current hohlraum designs, hohlraum
areas are typically 15-25 times that of the initial capsule
area. Such a large-area hohlraum limits the coupling efficien-
cies of driver energy to the capsule to lo%-15%, as dis-
cussed in Sec. VIII. It should ultimately be possible to
achieve a coupling efficiency of 20%-25% through the use
of optimal driver and hohlraum geometries that minimize
hohlraum and LEH area.
The achievable implosion velocity, which is the primary
determinant of the minimum-size driver for ignition, is de-
termined by a combination of the allowable capsule IFAR
and the maximum achievable x-ray flux. Shown in Fig. 7 are
gain curves at implosion velocities of 3 and 4X10? cm/s,
under the assumption of a fixed hohlraum coupling effi-
ciency of lo%-15%. If the capsule IFAR is limited to about
30, an implosion velocity of 3 X lo7 cm/s requires a hohlraum
temperature of about 225 eV, whereas an implosion velocity
of 4X lo7 cm/s requires a higher temperatur+about 300 eV.
This near-linear relationship between radiation temperature
and implosion velocity is discussed in Sec. V. At any given
velocity, capsules below a certain energy will fail to ignite
because the hot spot will not achieve sufficient pr and tem-
perature. The shaded bands correspond to a minimum cutoff
energy, which depends on hydrodynamic instability levels
and capsule surface quality. The left-hand edge of each band
corresponds to the gain for perfectly uniform implosions.
The right-hand edge of each band corresponds to the gain for
targets with surface finishes of 500-1000 A. As seen in Fig. FIG. 8. Nova laser bay.
7, capsules on the proposed NIF (described more completely
in Sec. XIII), which is being designed to deliver 1.8 MJ of
energy, must reach implosion velocities approaching 4X lo7
cm/s, and have hohlraum temperatures of approximately 300
eV.
The ICF program has used data from laboratory experi-
ments and from underground nuclear experiments. A joint
Los Alamos/LLNL program using underground nuclear ex-
periments, called Halite at LLNL and Centurion at Los Ala-
mos (collectively called H./C), demonstrated excellent perfor-
mance, putting to rest fundamental questions about the basic
feasibility of achieving high gain.z6 It performed inertial fu-
sion experiments using nuclear explosives at the Nevada Test
Site at higher energies than those available in the laboratory.
Since its completion in 1985, the Nova laser18~1g at
LLNL has been the primary U.S. laboratory facility for
radiation-driven experiments. Figure 8 is a picture of the
laser hall, showing some of Nova’s ten beams. Figure 9
shows the Nova experimental area as it was before any di-
agnostics were installed. The laser beams are arranged so
that five beams located along the rim of a 100” cone irradiate
each end of a hohlraum, such as that shown in Fig. 10. Nova
can deliver about 30-40 kJ in 1 ns at an output wavelength
of 0.35 pm. This energy can also be delivered with a wide
variety of pulse shapes. Figure 10 is a typical 1.6 mm diam
hohlraum used on Nova for implosion experiments. For ease
FIG. 9. Nova target chamber.
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3939
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Implosion /-
capsule - -Formvar
Z\PO”
FIG. 10. Nova implosion target, illustrating beam geometry. Five Nova
beams irradiate each side of the hohlraum. The beams are uniformly distrib-
uted around the rim of a 100” cone.
of fabrication, the hohlraum wall for this target is made of
gold, but other high-2 materials such as tungsten and ura-
nium are also used. The capsule shown inside is a plastic
microballoon about 5 mm in diameter.
Outside of the United States, GEKKO XII and the Phe-
bus laser at Limeil have been the primary facilities for ex-
periments on radiation-driven ICE Hohlraumsz7 used on
GEKKO XII have been about half the scale of the Nova
hohlraums shown in Fig. 10. Experiments on Phebus2s
which is the equivalent of two beams of Nova, have used a
variety of hohlraum geometries, including spheres ranging in
size from 1 to 2 mm in diameter and targets with beam
shields for implosions, as shown in Fig. 11. In Russia, the
ISKRA-5 laser29 at Arzamus-16 has been used for indirect
drive. ISKRA-5 is an iodine laser operating at a 1.3 15 pm
laser wavelength. In typical experiments, this facility can fo-
cus lo-15 kJ in a 0.25 ns pulse into a spherical cavity with
six LEHs. Other facilities being used for indirect drive in-
& = 0.6 for all sizes
e
200 I I I
lffO- i
F 160 -
3 i
c’ 140 -
i-
120 -
800 1200 1600 2000
2 4 (w)
FIG. 11. Hohlraum drive on the Phebus laser;?’ has been measured at 0.35
pm. Et,,,,= 6 kJ in 1.3 ns. as a function of cavity diameter.
3940 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 elude the Asterix III laser3’ at Garching and the Shengguang
laser facility”’ in Shanghai. The Shengguang facility is a
two-beam facility currently capable of delivering up to 800 J
in a 0.1 - 1.2 ns pulse at 1.06 ,um.
The primary alternatives to laser drivers for indirect
drive are ion-beam machines. Sandia National Laboratories
has developed a succession of pulsed-power, light-ion driv-
ers. The primary challenge for ion beams has been, and con-
tinues to be, achieving the required focused intensity. Com-
pleted in 1985, the current Sandia facility is PBFA ILs2
which can deliveG3 about 100 kJ of lithium ions at l-2
TW/cm2. Sandia has begun conducting preliminary hohlraum
and beam-coupling experiments,
Heavy-ion drivers are also being developed for ICE Of
the current ICF drivers, both the 1990 National Academy of
Science (NAS)26 and the Fusion Policy Advisory Committee
(FPAC)34 reviews concluded that because of their potential
efficiency, durability, and rep rate, heavy-ion drivers have the
greatest potential as drivers for future inertial fusion power
plants. The heavy-ion driver work in the United States is
supported primarily by the Office of Fusion Energy (OFE).
The U.S. program in heavy-ion drivers focuses on induction
accelerators. The experimental work has been carried out
primarily at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Although induc-
tion accelerator technology has had a variety of applications,
primarily for electron beams, a heavy-ion driver using space-
charge-dominated beams for ICF currently is the least mature
of the major driver approaches. In contrast to the laser case,
a typical ion-driven hohlraum, which requires a certain mini-
mum intensity to achieve good x-ray conversion,35-37 con-
centrates the driver into a few radiators, as shown schemati-
cally in Fig. 6. This feature, which is attractive from a
reactor-design point of view,3s minimizes the solid angle
over which beams must be distributed and allows for a wide
variety of reactor designs, including liquid waterfall and ce-
ramic granule designs, which protect the target chamber wail
against the fluence of neutrons, x rays, and debris from the
target.
Although significant parts of the following discussion
apply to both direct and indirect drive, the principal focus
will be on indirect drive.
II. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF INDIRECT DRIVE
IN THE U.S. ICF PROGRAM
We are nearing completion of a two-decade program to
develop the data and numerical modeling capabilities needed
to accurately specify the requirements for ignition and high-
gain, radiation-driven ICF targets. Although research on in-
direct drive in the United States has been largely classified
throughout this period and some aspects remain classified, a
recent DOE declassification decision39 goes a long way to-
ward achieving a long-time goal of research scientists in the
field for more openness and international cooperation in ICE
John NuckoIls’ seminal 1972 Nature paper’ was pub-
lished at about the time when laser technology, diagnostic
development, and numerical modeling were becoming ma-
ture enough so that an expanded ICF program could begin to
evaluate the limits and requirements for the success of ICF.
This publication grew out of work, initiated by Nuckolls in
Review Article
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Capsule energy gain plotted vs compression
102 103 104 105
Compression ( x liquid density)
FIG. 12. The initial capsule energy estimates for ICF could be met with a
factor of 2.5 increase in the achievable implosion velocity compared to
velocities predicted for the NE The gains are plotted with the assumption
that the fuel is near Fermi degenerate and that the yield is not degraded due
to hot electrons, asymmetry, or hydrodynamic instability. The threshold
driver energy and implosion1 velocity are obtained from
E,,,(MJ)~~(O.O5/~~~)p3'*(V/(3X 107))-‘, with aY,==3%.
the late 195Os, to address the challenge of creating the small-
est possible fusion explosion. These early calculations were
based on radiation implosions and predated invention of the
laser. When the laser was invented in 1960, LLNL physicists
immediately recognized its utility for inertial fusion. Sterling
Colgate, Ray Kidder, and Nuckolls independently calculated
various methods of using high-power lasers to implode and
ignite fusion target designs.“’ Colgate and Nuckolls calcu-
lated implosions in laser-driven hohlraums. Kidder applied a
spherically symmetric pulse of laser light to the target with-
out the use of a radiation implosion. Other early work in
laser-driven inertial fusion was proceeding around the world.
In 1963 at the 3rd International Conference on Quantum
Electronics (Paris), Basov and Krokhin” evaluated the laser
requirements for using a laser to heat plasma to thermo-
nuclear temperatures. This evaluation considered just direct
heating of a plasma by laser irradiation and did not use an
implosion.
Nuckolls’ 1972 paper was based on the direct-drive im-
plosion of bare drops or shells of DT. But, as indicated,
LLNL had shifted by 1975 to radiation-driven implosions for
reasons described below.
Figure 12 shows Nuckolls’ original gain curves as func-
tions of fuel compression. These curves predict that, if suf-
ficient compression is achieved, targets driven by lasers as
small as 1 kJ could achieve target gains greater than unity.
Drivers of about 1 MJ were predicted to be required for high
gain. Although today’s estimates of the driver size required
for high gain have not changed significantly, we now believe
that a driver of about 1 MJ also will be required to achieve
ignition.
Why has the ignition threshold increased by such a large
factor while the requirements for high gain have remained
fairly constant? This apparent disparity is explained by the
extreme sensitivity of the ignition threshold to the implosion
velocity that can be achieved in near spherical implosions in which the fuel remains nearly Fermi degenerate. A simple
model for an isobaric implosion”2Z43 would predict that the
required energy would scale as @V-lo, where V is the im-
plosion velocity and p is the ratio of the pressure in the fuel
to the Fermi pressure. Detailed numerical calculations44 pre-
dict that this dependency is approximately reduced to
E caps.leiMJ~=; (E)P3’2( &‘1-‘. (23)
where rihy&, is the hydrodynamic efficiency and V is in units
of cm/s. The reduction in the velocity dependence from an
ideal isobaric model is the result of several factors, including
an increase in the required hot-spot temperature as the target
size decreases, and an increase in the fractional mass in the
hot spot that self-consistently occurs during compression and
results in reduced compression and hot-spot coupling effi-
ciency. The effects of hydrodynamic instability and asymme-
try will result in an increase above the energy predicted by
Eq. (23). As discussed in Sec. VI, these deviations from a
uniform spherical implosion result in a factor of 2-3 increase
in the minimum capsule energy required for ignition.
The strong dependence of the minimum energy on the
achievable implosion velocity means that only a factor of
about 4 increase in the implosion velocity is required to go
from a minimum energy of about 1 MJ to a minimum energy
of 1 W, as shown in Fig. 12. The velocity indicated in Fig. 12
depends on the ignition margin required to overcome the
effects of mix during the process of assembling the hot spot.
The dependence of gain on implosion velocity is much
weaker. To lowest order, the reduction in gain with reduction
in target size, or increase in implosion velocity, occurs pri-
marily because less mass is imploded per Joule of energy
coupled to the target. For equal burn efficiency, the gain
would scale as V-’ so that there would be about an order of
magnitude less gain at 1 kJ than at 1 MJ, as shown in the
curves of Nuckolls. Once a target with a DT pusher ignites, it
is expected to burn as calculated. In practice, compressions
achieved in self-consistent implosions are lower than the op-
timal compression indicated in Fig. 12, and the gain is a
stronger function of energy as discussed in Sec. VII.
We now believe that implosion velocities are limited to
between about 3 and 4X lo7 cm/s because of two constraints:
(1) the physics governing the hydrodynamic instability of an
ICF implosion; and (2) the maximum intensity allowed by
efficient laser plasma coupling.
Higher implosion velocities are possible in certain types
of high-entropy implosions, in which the high-density shell
is heated rapidly to high temperature and then explodes. In a
so-called “exploding pusher target,” the center of mass of
the shell or “pusher” is almost stationary as it explodes. The
radius of the boundary between the inner edge of the shell
and the fuel typically converges only a factor of 3 or 4. Such
targets are quite insensitive to asymmetry. The direct-drive,
electron-conduction-driven exploding pusher target45-49 was
the most common early ICF target and was the first type of
target to produce thermonuclear neutrons.“7Y48 However, it
does not scale to high gain, because all of the mass of the
target is on a high isentrope, which precludes high compres-
sion.
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3941
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To obtain gain at laser sizes much smaller than about 1
MJ, Nuckollsi used a very optimistic model for RT instabil-
ity in the presence of ablation. As described in Sec. VI on
hydrodynamic instabilities, this model, coupled with an as-
sumption that implosions with absorbed laser intensities ap-
proaching lOI W/cm2 would be feasible, was required to
obtain ignition at laser energies approaching 1 kJ. In 1972,
computers and numerical models were just becoming pow-
erful enough to allow detailed evaluation of the effects of
hydrodynamic instability and the limits that laser plasma in-
stabilities would place on the allowable intensity. Over the
next few years, experiments indicated that laser intensities
would be limited to between 1014 and a few times lOI
W/cm’, depending on the laser wavelength. Numerical cal-
culations provided most of the guidance for the growth of RT
instability until the quantitative data discussed in Sec. VI
became available in the late 1980s and the early 1990s.
By 1974, numerical calculation?’ using the LASNEX
code5’ indicated that direct-drive capsules would have much
higher instability growth rates than were assumed in Nuck-
011s’ 1972 paper. In addition, new experiments using neody-
mium glass lasers indicated that reduced absorption and hot
electron production would severely degrade direct-drive im-
plosions at the high intensities required for ignition with la-
sers in the I- 100 kJ range. The quality of the laser beam also
was much worse than could be tolerated for the implosion
uniformity required for direct drive. For direct-drive implo-
sions, beam nonuniformities provide a source of small-
spatial-scale perturbations (referred to as imprinting), which
are further amplified during the implosion.
Much progress has been made since the 1970s toward
solving the irradiation-uniformity problem for direct drive. A
series of clever optical inventions, both in the United States
and Japan,52-54 traded off laser-beam coherence for laser-
beam uniformity so that it is now possible to obtain beams
that are uniform to a few percent. The overlap of a large
number of beams, and further optical innovation should al-
low nonuniformity to be reduced to less than l%, estimated
to be required for direct drive. With optimization of density
gradient stabilization effects, as discussed in Sec. VI, the
direct-drive ignition threshold is now estimated to be about 1
MJ.s5 In the United States, the Omega Upgrade lase?‘s22 at
the University of Rochester is designed to answer these ques-
tions, and the NIF conceptual design (see Sec. XIII) will
permit adding a direct-drive option. In Japan, the 300 kJ
Kongoh laser project,56z57 an upgrade to GEKKO XII is be-
ing proposed to study direct-drive ignition. Although the
beam-smoothing techniques that have been developed
greatly reduce the level of these effects, imprinting is still a
major concern for direct drive.
Calculations carried out in 1975 showed that it is pos-
sible, with proper design, to achieve high gain with
radiation-driven targets5* such as those in Fig. 1. These tar-
gets are very similar to direct-drive targets, except that the
choice of ablator material must be properly matched to the
x-ray drive spectrum in order to control RT instability and
ensure that the fuel can be kept in a near-Fermi-degenerate
state. From one point of view, implosions driven by soft x
rays could be considered as being driven by a laser with a very short wavelength and a very broad frequency band-
width.
Compared to direct drive, these calculations for indirect
drive showed a dramatically reduced growth of perturbations
due to RT instability. As discussed in Sec. VI, this reduced
level of instability-one of the principal advantages of
radiation-driven implosions-occurs because radiation-
driven implosions have much higher ablation rates and hence
lower growth rates and thicker shells.
In addition, because the laser beams are absorbed far
from the capsule, as indicated schematically in Fig. 6,
radiation-driven implosions are unaffected by small-scale
nonuniformities in the laser beam.
As discussed in Sec. XII, “Hot Electron Preheat,”
indirect-drive targets are less sensitive to the effects of hot
electrons produced by laser-driven parametric instabilities
because of solid-angle effects and because radiation-driven
capsules are thicker than directly driven capsules.
A potential disadvantage of indirect drive for lasers,
compared to direct drive, is the longer scale length of plasma
traversed by the laser as it propagates from the LEH to the
hohlraum wall. Under some conditions, very large levels of
parametric instabilities can be generated in this plasma. Con-
trolling the level of parametric instabilities places limits on
laser wavelength and intensity. In practice, both direct drive
and indirect drive are optimized by using short-wavelength
lasers with XGO.5 pm, and intensities typically are limited to
about lOI W/cm2.
For indirect drive, the capsules and such issues as radia-
tion transport and hohlraum wall loss are essentially inde-
pendent of the driver. This means that the ICF Program could
use underground experiments driven by nuclear explosives to
test aspects of ICF capsules at much higher energy than
could be tested by available laboratory sources. As men-
tioned previously, the H/C program (from 1978 to 1988) laid
to rest fundamental questions about the feasibility of high-
gain ICF?6
Because much of the physics of indirect drive is inde-
pendent of the driver, many of the results learned with lasers
carry over to other drivers such as heavy-ion beams. This
synergism is particularly important for heavy-ion-beam driv-
ers. Indirect-drive laser experiments provide a key element
of the database required to ensure that targets driven by
heavy-ion beams will work when the accelerators are
available.34’59
Because of the reduced level of hydrodynamic instabil-
ity, capsule energy requirements for ignition at a given x-ray
intensity are very close to the projections in Nuckolls’ 1972
paper. However, there is a substantial energy penalty in-
curred in producing x rays and transporting them symmetri-
cally to a capsule. Further, because of limits to the achiev-
able x-ray intensity, the minimum driver energy for indirect
drive is about 0.5-I MJ, as shown in Fig. 7. The upper edge
of the band in Fig. 7 allows for the effects of asymmetry and
the mixing of hot and cold fuel while the hot spot is being
assembled.
Hence, the currently projected minimum energy for ig-
nition and burn propagation is quite similar for both direct
and indirect drive. However. because of relaxed beam-
3942 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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Forerunner target
A
lao+m gold
scattering wire
1Oy.m gold converter
and radiation case
l-pm Parylena light
and electron rhleld I?
\
3aa,w
la&pm diagnostic holes 4 ball
- 2 ma/cm3 DT fill
- I mg/cms No fill (a) W-pm tungsten-
250~pm-diam
Parylene light and
electron shield A 520 ~III
.c ‘x
VO-urn-diem 1
0.7~pm-walifuel ball
0.16~mg/cm3 DT fill
O.i-mg/cm3 Ne fill
Hohlraum / / ‘sf . / \
SO-pm diagnostic holes /
FIG. 13. The first indirect-drive, laser-driven implosion was achieved on the
Cyclops laser at LLNL in 1976 using a target called a Forerunner.
quality requirements and reduced sensitivity to RT instabil-
ity, it has been possible over the past two decades to make
more rapid progress toward obtaining the radiation-drive da-
tabase required to quantitatively specify the driver require-
ments for ignition. In the United States, a comparable data-
base for direct drive will not be available until the
experiments planned for the Omega Upgrade are completed,
sometime after the end of the 1990s.
Between March and May 1976, LLNL carried out the
first series of laser-driven radiation implosion experiments.
Target designs for these experiments required about 100 J of
1.06 ,um light. They were fielded on the Cyclops laser6’ at
LLNL. Figures 13 and 14 show the two principal types of
targets fielded in these experiments.“’ To simplify fabrica-
tion, gold radiation cases were used for these targets and for
most radiation-driven implosion targets since then. For the
first few radiation implosions, leaded glass microballoons
were used as radiation cases, but gold was a far superior
material and could be shaped easily from available tubing or
electroplated onto mandrels of arbitrary shape. For these first
radiation-driven targets, with calculated radiation tempera-
tures of about 100 eV, thin glass microballoons were used for
capsules. The radiation mean-free path in these capsules was
comparable to the shell thickness. The targets became nearly
isothermal and behaved as exploding pusher targets. The tar-
gets shown in Fig. 13 had yields of about lo4 neutrons,
whereas the target in Fig. 14, which was designed to couple
radiation to the capsule more efficiently, had a yield between FIG. 14. Improved version of Forerunner target: (a) engineering drawing,
(b) assembled target, and (c) fuel capsule and Parylene cover mounted on
end cap prior to assembly.
1 and 2X105 neutrons. Yields for both types of targets were
predicted correctly. These results, which made us optimistic
about radiation drive, resulted in a shift of the 20 beam, 10
kJ Shiva laser from a uniform-illumination scheme to a two-
sided irradiation scheme for indirect drive and formed the
basis for the early optimism about the possibilities for
achieving breakeven on a 200 kJ laser operating at 1.06 ,u,m.
However, as we attempted the higher drive temperatures
needed for high-density implosions and higher yields, laser-
driven parametric instabilities in the hohlraum plasmas gen-
erated high levels of energetic electrons. Also, coupling dif-
ficulties hampered progress in the LLNL program on both
Argus62 (a two-beam laser capable of delivering l-2 kJ of
1.06 pm light that served as a prototype for the laser hard-
ware in Shiva) and Shiva as we worked to achieve a DT
fuel density equal to 100X liquid DT fuel density (about 20
g/cm3).
In the initial Cyclops hohlraum experiments, the pres-
ence of high-energy electrons, which we later determined
were produced primarily by stimulated Raman scattering
(SRS), showed up as noise in the neutron detectors.6’ Be-
sides the 500 pm diam target shown in Fig. 13, we tested
300 and 400 ,zrn diam versions of this target. The smaller
two hohlraums generated such large signals (from high-
energy electrons) in the neutron detectors that they could not
be used for implosions. Therefore, we did the implosion ex-
periments in the larger, lower-temperature hohlraum, which
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3943
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j Gold hohlraum wall
and scattering cone
0 1 0 1
prompt production region photon energy (keV) Prompt sink region photon energy (keV)
FIG. 15. Time-resolved x-ray spectroscopy, showing energy loss and temperature gradient between production and sink regions of Cairn targets on the Argus
laser at LLNL (1978).
had low noise levels. As discussed in Sec. XI, “Hohlraum
Plasma Conditions,” laser plasma parametric instabilities
strongly limit the hohlraum temperature that can be achieved
with a laser of a given size and wavelength.
Because we lacked adequate models for certain key
pieces of the physics, including non-LTE (local thermody-
namic equilibrium) or NLTE atomic physics for the high-Z
hohlraum walls, and adequate understanding of the laser-
plasma interactions below critical density inside the hohl-
raum, we believed that absorption would be high in hohl-
raums for 1 pm light and that conversion to x rays would be
very high. In addition, we had few measurements to quantify
target performance: no quantitative measurement of x-ray
drive, inadequate information about high-energy x rays from
energetic electrons, and no measurements of the spectral dis-
tribution of scattered light that could have identified Raman
scattering. We fully expected to achieve 100X liquid density
on Argus and go on to more aggressive implosions on Shiva.
In 1977 and 1978, hohlraum experiments were performed
with increasingly sophisticated targets, as shown in Figs.
15-17. Figures 15 and 16 show 1978 Argus laser targets
designed to measure radiation temperature and x-ray
preheat.@ Figure 17 shows a hohlraum for capsules designed
to achieve 10 to 100Xliquid density65*66 on Argus. Because
of high-energy electron production, we were unsuccessful in
all attempts to obtain measurable yields from capsules de-
signed to achieve a density > loxliquid on Argus.
3944 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Throughout 1978 and 1979, we tested a wide variety of
targets designed to achieve high density on Shiva. A sketch
of the Cairn Mod-B hohlraum, which achieved the highest
densities, is shown in Fig. 18(a). The capsules were glass
microballoons with diameters of -150 pm and wall thick-
L18Qllm~4420”m ---J
'8%104 keV
x rays
T 5-Z shield
FIG. 16. Target setup for a coupling experiment on the Argus laser. We
measured the coupling of radiation (burnthrough) and superthermals tpre-
heat) to a 12 pm slab of glass (100X-like target) in a 100X-like environ-
ment (half-cairn).
Downloaded 26 May 2009 to 199.104.125.63. Redistribution subject to AIP license or copyright; see http://pop.aip.org/pop/copyright.jsp
(W Au!U/Nb conical
deflector shield
f Argus laser
Cairn hlgh-
density target
radiation casa
(8-20 m thick)
lastlc support/shield
, Laser entrance hole,
beam
d
Argus laser --t
skewed
injactlon
Forerunner Lassr beam
fl2 optics
w/\/+-T Rilaflon case (Au) -//I Y \
TN fuil ball
NOW
FIG. 17. By 1977, sophisticated hohlraum implosion targets were being fielded on the two-beam Argus laser: (a) Cairn high-density target; (b) Forerunner
exploding pusher target.
nesses of 5-10 pm. These capsules were coated with either
Teflon (CF,,) or CHz. The illumination geometry for the
Cairn-B target is shown in Fig. 18(b). Shiva’s inner cone of
beams was focused on the gold shine shields, while the outer
cone of beams was focused to pass beyond the capsule and
illuminate the opposite hohlraum wall and endcap. Figure 19
shows the variety of Cairn hohlraum types tested in the high-
density campaigns on Shiva. Figure 20 is a plot of the den-
sity, obtained by neutron activation68 of the glass pusher sur-
rounding the fuel, and neutron yields obtained with these
designs. In general, the neutron yield anticorrelated with
density. The more open geometries, which allowed more ef-
ficient transport of energy to the capsule, also provided less
preheat shielding against the large fluxes of hot electrons
produced in these experiments. Most of the Cairn implosion
experiments were designed to operate with radiation tem-
peratures near 200 eV. Under these conditions, high-energy
x-ray measurements indicated that up to 50% of the absorbed
laser light ended up in hot electrons. The presence of these
high-energy electrons, which generally had a temperature of
50-60 keV, degraded the achievable density and neutron
yield. In general, it proved quite difficult to calculate the
performance of these targets with large fractions of hot elec-
trons, although the trends were understandable.
On the basis of an examination of the plasma conditions calculated for the Shiva hohlraums and an improved under-
standing of SRS,25 a model was developed for the limitations
on hohlraum temperatures based on filling hohlraums to den-
sities near i critical density.69 At this density, the Raman
instability-which couples an incident photon, a scattered
photon, and a plasma wave-is an absolute instability with
very high gain. The plasma wave has a high phase velocity
and produces energetic electrons when it undergoes Landau
damping. A series of scaling experimentsY7’ which varied the
hohlraum size and energy, gave hot-electron fractions that
scaled well with the fraction of energy remaining in the pulse
after the hohlraum filled to an average density of a critical, as
shown in Fig. 21. In addition to measuring the hot-electron
fraction, we also measured Raman-shifted backscattered
light. The magnitude of this scattering, as well as the time
delay before large levels of scattering occurred, also were
consistent with the model of hohhaum filling as the source of
plasma responsible for producing hot electrons. The time de-
lay before the onset of hot-electron production is shown in
Fig.22 and is consistent with the calculated time delay for
filling to 4 critical densityF9 A Cairn scale 1, referenced to
the initial Argus experiments, was 500 pm in diameter and
800 pm long. Most Shiva implosion experiments, such as the
Cairn-B shown in Fig. 18, were a scale 2. Because of the
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3945
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FlG. 5beamsfromeach
side in inner c
18. (a) Cairn Mod-B, one of a series of targets that use radiation-driven. ablative compression of the fuel c
20-beam Shiva laser.
relatively low critical density of 102’ cmw3 for 1.06 pm laser
light, hohlraum experiments on Shiva at this wavelength
were limited to between 130 and 140 eV before significant
levels of hot electrons were produced, with the 1 ns pulses
required for implosions.
Low-preheat hohlraums are required for imploding cap-
sules with fuel regions that remain nearly Fermi degenerate.
To test our ability to predict the performance of ablatively
driven capsules in a low-preheat hohlraum, we designed the
Nova Precursor Implosion Research Experiments (NPIRE)?’
which were designed to implode capsules at 130- 140 eV and
that used the two types of hohlraums shown in Figs. 23(a)
and 23(b) with the capsules shown in Fig. 23(c). The cap-
sules performed as predicted, with a neutron yield of 107, as
indicated in Fig. 23. This gave us confidence that capsules
driven by radiation ablation in low-preheat hohlraums would
behave as predicted. With diagnostic and alignment shields, apsule. (b) Mod-B in geometry for
these targets are quite complex to fabricate, as shown by the
assembled targets in Fig. 24.
From 1976 to 1981, we investigated both single- and
double-shell targets as potential high-gain targets. Compared
to single-shell targets such as those in Fig. 1, double-shell
targets reach ignition conditions at lower implosion veloci-
ties. Figure 25 shows a high-gain, double-shell target.72 In all
double-shell targets, called “Apollo” targets, the main fuel is
part of the outer shell. During the implosion, the outer shell
collides with the much lighter inner shell and accelerates it to
a higher velocity. In the limiting case of the inner shell’s
mass being negligible compared to that of the outer shell and
the collision being elastic, the inner shell can reach a velocity
twice that of the outer shell. Since compression to the high
density required for high gain generally requires a lower ve-
locity than that required to ignite the hot spot, this velocity
multiplication can, in principle, result in a factor-of-4 higher
3946 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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Mod B
I 1 I Y- lo’-10’n
p,AR-0.02405 g/cm*
Mod H
I
0 Y-lo8 n
p, AR-O.006 g/cm2
Mod I
I
Y-3xiO’n
ppAR-0.01 g/cm*
3 > 0 ’ Y- lo8 n
hTodK
0 Y-2xlO’n
FIG. 19. Radiation cases for five Cairn targets: the Mod-B, H, I, J, and K.
When irradiated, they provided a variety of drive and preheat environments
for the Cairn capsules. most of which were SiO, microshells, 5 pm wall
thickness, 150 pm diam, overcoated with 15 pm of Teflon, and filled with
about 10 mgkm-’ of DT.
gain for a double shell compared to a single shell. The inner
shell must be high Z for efficient high-density compression
of the fuel contained within it. Because this shell starts out at
a density of nearly 20 g/cm3, it can tolerate the high-pressure
shock generated during the collision and still achieve high
density. Because it is high 2, such a shell also contains the
radiation emission from the fuel as it compresses and further
lowers the ignition threshold. Early projections of ignition on
a “200 w, ” 20-beam Nova laser were based largely on
103 I b ’ fi~~~~~, b t 1 ~~*~~, 1 a b 3
Neutron yield
FIG. 20. Fuel density at burn time versus neutron yield for various Cairn
hohum geometries. Calm hohlraum scale size
f lo-’ - (scale 1 D soo-~ dlam x 8W wn long)
I Incident energy (kJ)
8 p 10-Z -
;
i lo4 s
J IO4 I I , 1 , I I I, 1 I , , , , , ,, I , , I
2X10-4 2xX+ 2x10-P 2x10-4 1
f, = 1.0 4’” r, dtU&,
FIG. 21. The experimental hot-electron fraction fhot in 1.06 pm hohlraum
scales with the fraction of energy remaining in the pulse f, at time i, when
the average hohlraum density reaches quarter-critical.
double-shell target designs72’73 such as those shown in Fig.
26. The two capsules shown in Fig. 26 are labeled “sub-
sonic” and “transonic” to characterize the velocity of the
radiation front (Marshak wavej relative to the velocity of the
shock generated by the ablation. In the subsonic capsule, the
shock propagates ahead of the Marshak wave during most of
the ablation process. In the transonic capsule, the Marshak
wave and shock propagate through the LiH ablator at nearly
the same speed until the radiation wave is slowed by the
TaCOH layer. In this transonic regime, the compression
caused by the shock in the ablator depends on radiation tem-
perature and decreases as the temperature increases. This
negative feedback results in a reduced sensitivity to radiation
flux asymmetry because the pressure on the TaCOH shell is
proportional to psT, where ps is the shocked ablator density
and T is the radiation temperature. These transonic capsules
could tolerate 5%-10% flux asymmetry, versus 1% for the
subsonic capsules.
However, the potential advantages of velocity multipli-
cation ignore the effects of hydrodynamic instability during
the collision of the two shells. When these types of targets
were proposed, little was known about the growth of the
turbulent instability layer that is produced during the colli-
sion and acceleration of the inner shell. More detailed analy-
0 X-ray streak camera
l Onedlmenslonal
cylindrical calculations
4667
EWJ)
FIG. 22. High-energy electron time delay versus energy for Shiva &O-scale
Cairn target (1000 pm diam by 1600 ,um long) hohlraum (2 ns pulse).
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3947
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(a) Type I cylindrical hahlraum (5/E-4.0)
Laser entrance hole
T 2000 pm
1 4ClO+mdiam
diagnostic holes
(c) Capsules for NPIRE hohlraums (d) Perfonance summary (b) Type II spherical hohlraum (2.5 8)
b-900 umcl
10’ I I .0=
~~~~~~~~
CH ablator 120 130 140 150
5 W
FIG. 23. The NPIRE hohlraums on the Shiva laser were designed to operate
at a low radiation temperature of C 130- 140 eV) in order to minimize hot-
electron preheat problems.
sis of this instability, and experiments74 make it clear that the
inner shell cannot be pushed the required distance before
being penetrated by this turbulent layer. We now believe that
the minimum size for successful ignition of double-shell tar-
gets makes it uninteresting for ICF applications.
On Shiva,75-77 we fielded a few double-shell targets such
as those shown in Fig. 27. The inner shell was a 180 pm
diam, 20 /*rn thick glass shell, and the outer shell was a 360
,um diam, 50 ym thick CH shell formed from a pair of hem-
ishells glued to the few-hundred-angstroms-thick film that
held the inner shell in place. These Apollo targets had a
higher calculated density than did the single-shell Cairn tar-
gets. However, the low neutron yields of < IO7 resulted in
poor statistics for the neutron activation measurement of the
glass pusher area1 density, which was our only density diag-
nostic.
The model of hohlraum temperatures limited by plasma
filling predicted that we would be able to achieve the tem-
perature required for high-gain, single-shell targets if the
proposed Nova laser were built to produce the third har-
monic of the neodymium glass laser. This became practical
because of efficient conversion schemes, using nonlinear
conversion in potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) crys-
tals, initially devised by the University of Rochester.78 In
198 1, the improved coupling in hohlraums was demonstrated
at the 100 J level in a series of experiments at 0.53 and 0.35
pm on the Argus laser.79 In these experiments, the hot-
electron levels dropped to open-geometry levels, and the
fraction of the incident light that was absorbed in the hohl-
raum increased to nearly lOO%, as shown in Fig. 28(a).
These results are consistent with those seen in 1988 experi-
ments reported by Sakabe et c~l.,*~,~~ as shown in Fig. 28(b).
Hohlraum absorption greater than 90% also has been typical
3948 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 (W
FIG. 24. The NPIRE targets: (a) cylindrical Cairn NPIRE after final
bly; (b) spherical NPIRE after final assembly. assem-
of most short-wavelength hohlraum experiments on larger
laser systems. The limitations to this high absorption are dis-
cussed in Sec. XI on hohlraum plasma conditions.
Using these estimates of the achievable radiation tem-
peratures and an estimate of the hohhaum coupling effi-
ciency that could be achieved consistent with the required
implosion symmetry, we estimated the single-shell target
gains” shown in Fig. 29. These gains are very similar to
those now estimated for the proposed NIF.
In 1979, when it became clear that ignition would not be
achieved on Nova, we devised a strategy for obtaining the
database that would be required for ignition on a future
facility.” This strategy tests the physics of high-gain targets
by using a series of Nova experiments on targets that are as
close as possible to being “hydrodynamically equivalent tar-
gets” (HETs), and by using a series of underground nuclear
experiments (Halite/Centurion) at much higher energy. This
combination of experiments and modeling was devised to
provide the basis for the facility that ultimately would be
required for ignition and high gain.
Since 1979. the LLNL ICF program has focused on de-
veloping the quantitative modeling tools, diagnostics, and
Review Article
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T8”‘-’ ’ 01
FIG. 25. High-gain Apollo double shell. This target had capsule absorbed
energy=0.8 MJ, yield=313 MJ, maximum gold pusher velocity= 1.9X lo7
cm/s, peak spark-plug fuel p-0.68 g/cm2, peak Au pusher p-3.6 g/cm’,
peak main fuel DT prw0.96 g/cm’, and peak TaCOH prwO.11 g/cm* (pre-
heat shield).
experimental techniques required to provide this quantitative
physics basis. This strategy was endorsed by the Foster
Reviewg3 in October, 1979, along with the recommendation
that Nova be a smaller, ten-beam laser with 20.1 (0.53 pm
wavelength) and 30 (0.35 ,um) capability. These recom-
mended changes were implemented, and Nova has proved to
be an extremely successtil facility.s4
In 1983, the first two beams of Nova were constructed as
a laser test bed in an experimental facility called Novette,
which gave us our first multikilojoule experience with 2w
210
160
- 150
B
ii
% 120
ii
LUJ
f
9 60
30
0 F , I 1 I I
1CIl
5~ns
b I I I I
’ 160 180 200 220
Channel temperature (ev) 240
FIG. 26. Calculations in 1979, which predicted ignition for a 20-beam “200
kl Nova,” required high hohlraum coupling efficiency and near I-D perfor-
mance of double-shell targets. Both capsules had E,,=50 kJ,
V(TaCOH)=2X107 cm/s, V(Au)=3X107 cm/s. Capsule yields were about
100 kJ. Gold case
CH light shield 1, \ \ I /CH second shell
Glass fuel
capsule
Gold
scattering
cone
I
I 1000~m---+/
FIG. 27. (a) Apollo version B constructed for laser experiments on the Shiva
laser during 1979. (b) Completed Apollo target. Outer shell and inner fuel
capsule are visible through a diagnostic hole.
light. ICF experiments on this facility lasted only about three
months, but indicated that we were very likely to achieve our
hohlraum temperature goals on Nova. Implosions on
Novettex5@ used hohlraums such as those shown in Fig. 30.
With 7-9 kJ of 20 laser light, these hohlraums reached tem-
peratures of 150- 160 eV. For hohlraums that were four-fifths
the size of those in Fig. 30 (scale 0.8), the temperatures were
about 20 eV higher. The most accurate temperature measure-
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3949
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(a) Argus laser (LLNL) C3oo~m--i
1
0.8
s *-
E 0.6
s ‘Z
i+
B 0.4
s
0.2
0
1 .
(~~~~~~~~
1
8 0.6
-s
E
::
$ 0.4
P X 0.44 pm
0 1.3Fm
0.2 0.6 0.8 1
Cavity diameter (mm)
FIG. 28. Small-target hohlraum experiments showed efficient coupling with
short-wavelength laser light. (a) Results from 1981 Argus laser experiments
at LLNL using 0.35, 0.53, and 1.06 pm light. (b) Aster-ix laser (Garching,
1988) results using 0.44 and 1.3 pm light.
ment for these hohlraums was obtained by using an alumi-
num “witness plate” on a reentrant tube in “megaphone”
hohlraums8’ such as shown in Fig. 31. The witness plates
used on Novette had steps of two different thicknesses
mounted on the end of a gold reentrant tube. By looking at
optical emission when the radiation-driven shock breaks
through the aluminum step and recording the time difference
between the two steps, we obtain a shock velocity that can be
related to x-ray drive. As indicated in Fig. 3 1 for a scale-O.8
hohlraum with 7.2 k.J of laser light, the hohlraum tempera-
ture reached 172 eV with only about 3% of the absorbed
energy in hot electrons. (These results are consistent with the
results achieved on the Phebus laser,** as shown in Fig. 11.) Between 1986 and 1990, LLNL made rapid progress on
indirect-drive target physics. Nova experiments and quanti-
tative modeling demonstrated symmetry contro1,y’~q2 the first
quantitative RT instability expetiments,93*94 the expected
benefits of pulse shaping,95*96 and the radiation-drive tem-
Capsule: 200 x 6-p&
glass + 24-p CH
5 or i0-mg/cm DT fill bnes overfilled by
200 cum to compensate
for beam-pointing errors
We also carried out some 4w (0.265 pm) experiment$’
with greater than 1.5 k.J of energy in a 1 ns pulse. Witness- FIG. 30. Laser-target configuration for the two-beam Novette laser implo-
sion campaign in 1983. These dimensions define a scale- I Novette target. 1.0
Laser energy (MJ)
FIG. 29. By 1979. “best estimate” gains for single-shell, radiation-driven
ta@S were comparable to today’s estimates.
plate measurements on the 4w experiments indicated a hohl-
raum temperature of 210 eV with only 0.08% of the energy
in hot electrons in a half-scale Novette hohlraum (Fig. 32)
using 1.63 kJ of energy.
Although we did not carry out 30 experiments on
Novette (the appropriate KDP crystal arrays were not avail-
able), these results gave us confidence that Nova could meet
or exceed its temperature goals of 200-225 eV. In principle,
Nova could have been configured to produce 40 light instead
of 30 , but we concluded that the decreased performance
from optical damage would more than offset the benefits of
the increased margin of safety in laser plasma interaction
effects.
The NAS review** chaired by Dr. William Happer oc-
curred just as Nova was becoming fully operational at the
end of 1985. Soon after its activation, Nova achieved its
initial temperature goals of 200-225 eV with low levels of
hot electrons.89 We had established this goal as the tempera-
ture that would be required for high gain with a 5-10 MJ
laser. The DOE labeled such a facility the Laboratory Micro-
fusion Facility (LMF).% The NAS review continued to en-
dorse the HET approach, but made the H/C program the
highest priority.
3950 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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(a)
1 Alumlnum witness plate
64 Vlew of the
Cassegrafn
telescope
1 2
Time (ns)
FIG. 31. Novette Megaphone O.&scale Cairn target used to measure the shock velocity of the drive at the center of the secondary. Target: 2487 pm long, 1198
/*m in diameter, with 696 pm LEH. Laser beam: 7.2 kJ, 5270 A, 1 ns pulse, ,f/4.3 diverging beam spot at cone. Aluminum witness plate for incident flux
temperature: 43 pm step, 990 ps; 67 ,um step, 1590 ps; u,=~.OX 10’ cm/s+P=32 Mbars, TH= 172 eV. Hot electrons: 200 J of 34 keV electrons+7’P,,heat= 1.3
eV for 43 pm step, 0.3 eV for 67 q step. X-ray diode reemission tlux temperature: T,=15.5 eV.
perature scaling of implosions.“7 These experiments and their
more recent equivalent are discussed later in this paper.
Based on the Nova and H/C progress, it was recom-
mended that DOE begin considering the LMF based on
glass-laser technology. This recommendation initiated a se-
ries of internal DOE reviews in 1988 and a request from
Congress for an external review of the ICF Program, which
was carried out by the NAS in 1989-1990. In its January
1990 interim report. the NAS committee, under the chair-
manship of Professor Steven Koonin, commended the
Rear view
b L diagno&lc hole diameter Dank hole
FIG. 32. Half-Cairn targets for Novette scaling experiments. Dimensions:
d=outside diameter of cylinder=1500 pm for 1.0 scale; l=length of
cylinder=(5/6)& a=distance from back wall to center of Dante hole=(13/
30)d; b=diameter of Dante hole=[4/15)d: c=LEH diameter=0.5d;
t,“=wall thickness; R =radius of front comer=OZid; g=back corner angle
=90+2°.
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article progress that had been made in ICF, but concluded that the
LMF, with proposed yields of 200-1000 MJ, was too large
for the next step and encouraged the laboratories to explore a
step between Nova and the LMF.26 In addition, Koonin’s
committee concluded that the H/C program had achieved its
principal objectives and recommended that the remaining is-
sues regarding the feasibility of ICF be resolved on Nova.
Analysis of the relationship between implosion velocity,
hydrodynamic instability, and hohlraum temperature indi-
cated that ignition and modest gain would be possible with a
l-2 MJ laser if hohlraum temperatures of 300 eV, and im-
plosion velocities of aXlO cm/s could be achieved.98.99 At
this implosion velocity, the capsule has sufficient ignition
margin to accommodate the expected level of degradation
from hydrodynamic instability and asymmetry. At a laser en-
ergy of 1.8 MJ, which is the NIF baseline, there also is a
sufficient margin to account for uncertainty in the achievable
hohlraum coupling efficiency. Early in 1990, using the in-
creased power and energy that had become available when
Nova’s laser glass was replaced with improved platinum-free
material, we were able to demonstrate 300 eV hohlraums
with less than 1% of the absorbed energy in hot electrons.
Based on experimental and modeling results, both the
September 1990 final report26 of Koonin’s NAS committee
and the DOE Fusion Policy Advisory Committee (FPAC)
3951
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report34 recommended construction of a l-2 MJ glass laser
for demonstrating ignition and modest gain within about a
decade. The NAS noted that ignition demonstration is the
natural next step in the ICF program. This recommendation
was made contingent upon successful completion of a series
of experiments to be carried out on Nova. These experiments
and modeling in hohlraum and laser plasma interaction phys-
ics (HLP) and hydrodynamically equivalent physics (HEP)
constitute the Nova Technical Contract (NTC).26
The HLP experiments address the issues of the effects of
hohlraum plasma conditions on implosion symmetry, and the
scaling of a variety of plasma collective effects (including
parametric instabilities) in hohlraums.
The HEP experiments address the issues of hydrody-
namic instability and mix, as well as the effects of flux asym-
metry on capsules that are scaled as closely as possible to
ignition capsules (hydrodynamic equivalence). Several im-
provements to the Nova laser, including improved power bal-
ance and pointing accuracy, were required to carry out some
of these experiments. These requirements resulted in the
“Precision Nova Project,““’ which was completed in 1993.
Except for cryogenic implosions, which are not now
planned for Nova, the experiments of the NTC will complete
the goals established for Nova in 1981.
As part of its conclusions, the Koonin committee recom-
mended that Los Alamos become an integral part of the
Nova physics program. That work has been pursued jointly
by LLNL and LANL since the end of 1990.
In early 1993, DOE endorsed the mission need for the
NIF and authorized development of a conceptual design re-
port (CDR) for the facility. Demonstration of ignition and
burn propagation would complete the physics basis for ICF
and open the door for ICF applications, including fusion
power production.
The following sections review in more detail the theo-
retical and experimental progress in ICF, with an emphasis
on Nova and the NTC, and summarize the expected perfor-
mance of the proposed NIF. Included are a wide variety of
analytic scaling laws that serve an important role in illumi-
nating key physics issues.
III. IGNITION PHYSICS
Figure 1 shows the typical configuration of the com-
pressed fuel at ignition. As a capsule implodes, P dV work
and a-particle deposition from thermonuclear bum of DT act
to heat the central hot-spot region. Electron conduction from
the hot spot to the cold surrounding fuel, as well as radiative
losses, act to cool the hot spot. As the shell of main fuel
compresses the hot spot, pressure increases, and densities of
both the hot spot and the main fuel increase. If conduction
and radiative losses from the hot spot are too large, ignition
never occurs. To achieve ignition by the time the implosion
process has stopped, the hot spot must have a pr equal to
about 0.3 g/cm2 and must achieve a central temperature of
about 10 keV. Under these conditions, a-particle deposition
can overcome electron conduction losses from the hot spot,
and a self-sustaining bum wave will be generated.
A simple analytic model demonstrates these
requirements.‘2*‘0’,‘02 To estimate the rate of mechanical work per unit vohtme, P, , done on the hot spot, we assume
that the main fuel acts as a piston on a gas with uniform
pressure:
P,= P(dVldt) PAv 3Pv =-=-
V v r
=2,3X 1015 pr’v~107’ (W/cm”),
where p is the hot-spot density in g/cm3, P is the pressure, A
is the surface area of the hot spot, V is its volume, r is its
radius in cm, v is the implosion velocity in cm/s, and T is the
matter temperature in keV. Electrons and ions are assumed to
be in equilibrium. The thermonuclear heating rate per unit
volume P, is obtained from the bum rate and the fractional
alpha particle deposition:
P,= p&J%,
+= i( I- ~)no(av)- 1.2x lo*sp(av),
~,=0.67XlO" (J/g), (25)
P,=8X 1016p2
In this equation, 4 is the rate of change of the bumup frac-
tion, E, is the cr-particle energy per gram of DT, no is the
total number density of particles, (crv} (cm3/s) is the
Maxwell-averaged cross section, and F, is the &-particle
deposition fraction. Efficient a-particle capture requires a pr
greater than the a-particle range shown in Fig. 4. The radia-
tion loss, P, , is assumed to be bremsstrahlung emission that
escapes the fuel:
P,=3.OX 10’6p2T*‘2 (W/cm3). (26)
Conduction losses P, are obtained assuming Spitzer’03 con-
ductivity with a steady-state temperature profile determined
by balancing volume heating and conduction losses:
Q=-k VT= -9.4x10'2s(z)
Z.ln A T5’2 VT ( W/cm2),
4n-r2Q= F r3(Po,+P,-PR)-+Q=constXr,
2 -+T=T, [Ol l- 11. 217 and T512 4
t-0 VT(r,)= 7-gt2
7 7,
p 2?!!=~ e V r
y-712
=8X lOI 7 (W/cm3), for In A=2,Z=l. (27)
Here S(Z)=S(Z)E(Z)/[S(Z=I)E(Z=~)] is from Spitzer. In
addition, S(Z) varies from 1.0 at Z= 1 to about 4.0 at Z=m.
Table II gives Sand E at several different values of Z. Here
To is the central temperature of the hot spot and r. is its outer
radius. The subscripts are dropped in Eq. (27). In obtaining
the temperature, the implosion velocity within the hot spot is
assumed to be proportional to the radius r at each point. This
is necessary to maintain a constant density, which is a typical
3952 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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TABLE II. We use Spitzer values of 6 and E for electron thermal conduc-
tivity.
z 1 2 3 4 a
6 0.225 0.356 0.513 0.791 1
E 0.419 0.410 0.401 0.396 0.4
characteristic of the hot spot, as seen in Fig. 1. The Coulomb
logarithm In A is also assumed to be a constant, and the
temperature at the edge of the hot spot is taken to be zero for
simplicity. The temperature profile obtained under these as-
sumptions is close to that seen in detailed numerical simula-
tions at ignition for a typical high-gain target.
Equations (24)-(27) provide a qualitative picture of the
gain and loss terms in the hot spot, but detailed numerical
simulations are required for quantitative accuracy.
Energy gain in the hot spot occurs for
f= P,,,+ Pa- P,- P,>O. The f =0 boundary is a quadratic
in pr:
(prj2[ ( +)Fa- 2) +pr( T(~~07’) - $-oa8)
This boundary separates regions in which the hot spot gains
energy as it is compressed from those regions in which it
loses energy. The regions of gain and loss are plotted in Fig.
33 for a velocity of 3X IO7 cm/s. At this velocity, there are
uninterrupted trajectories in the energy gain region, from low
temperature and low pr to ignition conditions. Plotted in Fig.
33 are the boundaries that specify the regions in which the
various terms of the energy equation dominate. Above a line
given by
T= 15.5(pr)2’3 (keV), (29)
the electron conduction loss rate exceeds the radiative loss
rate. Typical ICF capsule implosions proceed entirely above
this line, for DT with no impurities. It is also clear that PdV
work is the dominant energy gain term below O.l<pr<0.2
g/cm” and temperatures of several keV.
vWm2)
FIG. 33. with sufficient implosion velocity, PdV work will implode a hot
spot until cr deposition can propagate the bum. The existence of a loss region at high pr and a tempera-
ture of a few keV is caused by the fact that radiative losses
scale as pz whereas PdV work scales only as p. The ratio of
the PdV work to the radiative loss is given by
>=0.767 T”2(v/107)
r pr *
For any given u, this ratio is less than unity at sufficiently
high pr. However, at high pr, the radiation no longer es-
capes, and the loss rates are not as high as assumed in this
model. This region of energy loss at high pr extends only up
to the so-called “ideal ignition temperature,” the temperature
at which the a-particle production rate equals the radiation
loss rate. In DT without any impurities, this temperature is
4.3 keV. Since both the bremsstrahlung and alpha production
rates scale as p’ and are independent of r, the alpha produc-
tion results in energy gain above this temperature at suffi-
ciently high pr.
Along the boundaries defined by f=O, the gain and loss
terms exactly balance, so a capsule cannot implode exactly
along this boundary. For the region in which electron con-
duction and PdV work dominate the energy balance, there is
an implosion trajectory toward which all possible implosion
trajectories will be “attracted. ” lo4 To show this, we write, for
the time rate of change of the temperature,
c,p g=x P=P,$P,-P,-p,,
dT dT d(v) dT -=--
dt d(pr) dt =2pv -
dh-) ’ (31)
dT BP -=
d(pr) 2C,p”v ma g
3.5x lo-3
b= [v/(3xlo7)1~ a=*-0.
If we assume T= S2’5(pr)2’5/b, where S= 1 defines f =O for
small pr and T, then we have a solution for’
S=l-&=0.60
or
77=0.815 (pr)2’5 4=7.8( b-1 3~lo~)o’4. (321
This solution parallels the f=O boundary, but is 18.5% lower
in temperature. Capsules that begin their implosion away
from this trajectory gradually tend toward it. For example,
suppose a capsule had a pr=O.Ol g/cm2 and T=l keV in
Fig. 33. Under these conditions, the ratio of the PdV work to
the conduction loss is almost a factor of 10 when the implo-
sion velocity is 3X 107, so the implosion would be almost
adiabatic. For an adiabatic implosion, we have
;=( EJ”=( -iI)“‘- (33)
For a sphere of mass M, we have 1W=(4?r/3)[(pr)~/p~] or
for constant mass, prmpu3. From Eq. (33) we then have
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3953
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FIG. 34. 1 The calculated NIF capsule trajectory in Ti vs pr space is qualitatively consistent with a simple model of fuel energy gain and loss,
spot achieves a higher temperature at preignition values of pr.
(34)
The T vs pr curve would have a slope of unity, which would
approach the “stable attractor” curve from below. The tra-
jectory could not cross that of the “stable attractor,” since
the slope from below asymptotically approaches the same
value as the “stable attractor.” The same process occurs in
reverse for a capsule that starts out with too high a tempera-
ture for a given pr. Most ICF capsules start out on this latter
type of trajectory since the shock that sets the initial adiabat
often establishes a higher temperature than can be sustained
by the corresponding implosion velocity.
Figure 34 is an implosion trajectory from a numerical
simulation of the NIF capsule (see Fig. 107, Sec. XIII). Time
is implicit in the trajectory and increases as the temperature
and pr change from left to right across the figure. The con-
tours labeled with different velocities are the f=O boundaries
at the indicated velocities. This capsule has an implosion
velocity of 4X lo7 cm/s at the time it started decelerating. As
seen in Fig. 34, the hot-spot temperature increases somewhat
more rapidly during compression than this simple model
would predict. This is at least partly because electron con-
duction losses are not into a surrounding cold heat sink but
into DT, which is at a finite temperature so that conduction
losses are reduced. Also, during the low-pr hot-spot assem-
bly stage, In h-6, which results in smaller conduction loss
compared to Eq. (27), which used In A=2. The line in Fig.
34, with V=4X lo7 cm/s and In R=6, is close to the trajec-
tory followed by the mass-averaged hot-spot temperature of
the NIF capsule.
Figure 35 shows the calculated fuel temperature and
density versus pr for a 0.2 MJ capsule that could be driven
by the NIF and a larger 2 MJ capsule. Although the capsule
energies differ by an order of magnitude, the fuel configura-
tion in temperature and pr space, the variables that deter- but the fuel hot
mine bum propagation are nearly identical. The smaller cap-
sule has larger density to make up for the reduced mass and
energy in the fuel.
A key to the predicted success of capsules that are being
designed to ignite on NIF is the use of a pure DT cryogenic
fuel pusher. Of all possible materials that could be used for a
pusher to compress the central hot spot to ignition condi-
tions, DT has the least susceptibility to the effects of mix,
which can occur at the hot/cold boundary. This mix of hot
and cold material can quench ignition because of increased
radiative and electron conduction losses and because of in-
creased heat capacity in the hot-spot region. DT will not
suffer increased radiative losses compared to the hot spot and
will bum to essentially full yield, independent of mix if ig-
nition is achieved. As discussed in Sec. VI, DT also has the
least amount of hydrodynamic instability growth at the hot/
cold interface during decompression.
Once ignition occurs, the bum wave in these DT cap-
I I I - J
AilDT ,*%!I DT(2iJj-*2' 1000
,2 c (0.2 MJ); ) H +- - - - - = 300
*\ 'I -200
* /* P
/ -100
I?
E
-30 f$)
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.6
pr (s/cm*)
FIG. 35. Laboratory ignition and high-gain capsules have very similar igni-
tion conditions. Hot-spot temperature profiles and pr are nearly independent
of size at ignition. Smaller capsules must have higher density to achieve the
required hot spot pr4.3 g/cm’.
3954 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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prWcm2)
F’JG. 36. Burn propagation in small capsules tracks that in larger capsules
until decompression begins. Pairs of curves are temperature contours at a
series of times as the burn wave propagates through the fuel.
sules propagates in pr and temperature space in a way that is
essentially independent of size. Figure 36 shows the
temperature-versus-pr conditions for a 0.2 MJ NIF and the
larger 2.0 MJ capsule as the burn wave propagates into the
fuel. The two capsules track each other until the smaller
capsule starts to decompress. Thus, a demonstration of igni-
tion and burn on the NIF will determine the requirements for
high gain with a larger driver. e
P id
,/,y/J$pfv N’FgJ;w’ I 100
I-
q- ,9gg([4 --- SwMffc entropy (4 1
a)_. 4
103 103 lo-’ 100 10’ ld la3
Denslty (g/cd)
PIG. 37. DT isentropes and shock Hugoniot. The initial state for the shock
Hugoniot is p=O.25 g/cm3, T=11.6 K. Each isentrope is labeled by its
specific entropy(s) relative to that initial state in units of 10’ J/g/keV.
IV. PULSE SHAPING Pur(Mbar)=2 exp[0.75(As-4)]p5’3(g/cm3)=2Pp5’3
Precise and flexible pulse shaping is required to achieve
the high densities indicated in Fig. 35. To achieve the re-
quired hot-spot and pusher densities with minimal energy,
the pusher must remain nearly Fermi degenerate. or
The change in fuel entropy, As = A Q/T determines its
compressibility. The heat AQ can come from a variety of
sources, including shocks, electron conduction, photon pre-
heat, and hot electrons from plasma instabilities. For ignition
capsules being designed for the NIF, shocks are typically the
largest source of entropy. /?=exp[0.75(As-4)], (35)
where p is the ratio of the pressure at a given density to the
Fermi pressure at that density. From Eq. (35), we see that, for
every change in entropy of As=1 above As=4, the pressure
at a given density increases by about a factor of 2. To avoid
this reduction in compressibility, the optimal ICF capsule
should have As<4 from all sources.
To see how compressibility changes with the addition of
entropy, the equation of state tables for DT (e.g., from the
Los Alamos Sesame Library”) can be used to generate a
family of isentropes’05 in the pressure-versus-density plane,
as shown in Fig. 37. The number labeling each curve also
gives the specific entropy along that isentrope, relative to the
initial cryogenic value, in units of 10’ JlkeVlg. Since only
changes in entropy are meaningful, we have, for conve-
nience, put s=O when T=11.6 K and p=O.25 g/cm3, the
density of solid DT. Also plotted in Fig. 37 is the shock Hugoniot for DT
from an initial solid density of 0.25 g/cm3. The shock Hugo-
niot represents the set of possible final states reached in a
single shock from the initial state. For a y=513 gas such as
DT, the density at high pressures asymptotically
approacheslo a compression
For ~25.0 g/cm3, curves 1,2,3, and 4 are seen to nearly
coalesce. This coalescence is just above the so-called Fermi-
degenerate adiabat, where the pressure is due almost entirely
to the degeneracy pressure of the electrons (kT,~~~,i).
(For pG5.0 g/cm3, the As=0 adiabat curves down from
P@‘” because the equation of state of DT at these densities
and low temperatures is dominated by atomic and molecular
binding and is poorly approximated by a Fermi gas.) There is
a fairly abrupt transition at As =4. For As <4, the adiabatic
compressibility is a very weak function of s. However, above
that threshold, the pressure at a given density increases ex-
ponentially with increasing entropy: Typical implosion pressures for an ICF capsule are 100
Mbars or more. If the driving pressure were turned on sud-
denly, producing a 100 Mbar shock, the entropy generated in
the fuel would be As =9, as shown in Fig. 37. From Eq. (35),
compression to a given density would require a pressure
about 42 times the Fermi pressure. Figure 37 shows that a
single shock of 2 Mbars gives the fuel an entropy of As=4.
If we start an implosion at this initial pressure, the subse-
quent pressure history must be tailored such that almost no
entropy is generated as the driving pressure increases from 2
to 100 Mbars or more.
If the pressure profile is generated from a series of
shocks of increasing pressure, we can use the Hugoniot
relationships’06’107 to determine the allowable pressure ratios
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article entro 7P 2JO. (s-4) p=)--..-~
DT shock Hugonlot,
1Q4
F
3955
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Single-shock pressure ratio (E,)
FIG. 38. Entropy changes in shocked DT: (a) for single shock; (b) multiple
shocks versus individual shock pressure ratio with fixed final-to-initial pres-
sure ratio P+P, = 100, (c) multiple shocks versus individual shock pressure
ratio with Pr/PI =256.
that will result in an acceptable fuel entropy level. For a
y-law gas, we have
vs= p2 - hc-- 1
Pl 5+17w ’
TI Rr+1)2/2(Y-wf2
?-2={l+[(Y-1)/2]M2}{[2yl(y-1)]M2-l}
16M2
= (3+M*)(5M2- 1)’ (371
(38)
(39)
Tz IT, As( lo* J/keV/g)=2.5R In (P2,p,~~y-,~,y
=0.96 ln( sd). (40)
In these relationships, subscript 1 (2) refers to conditions
downstream (upstream) from the shock, and a y=5/3 has
been used. Here R is the gas constant per unit mass. The
Mach number, M, is the ratio of the shock speed to the sound
speed.
For a pressure ratio & Eq. (38) can be compared to an
isentropic compression:
771=5 I/y- 0.6
-5 *
which can be obtained from Eq. (35) (41)
These relationships are reasonably accurate for DT
above an entropy of 4. Figure 38 shows the entropy gener-
ated as a function of the pressure ratio for a single shock.
Also plotted is the total entropy change for a series of shocks
with a total pressure ratio of 100 and 256 as a function of the
single-shock pressure ratio. In the limit of a very large num-
ber of shocks for a fixed pressure change, the entropy change
approaches zero (i.e., the compression becomes adiabatic).
For a pressure ratio of 100, the total entropy change is less
than 0.3 for three shocks each, with a pressure ratio of 4.6. If
we were to start with an initial pressure of 1 Mbar and pro-
ceeded to 100 Mbars with a series of three more shocks, the
entropy of the fuel would remain below 4, and the fuel P max
h
p2
4
PO
S( ?ri ies of discrete constant pressure
pit1
shocks with - <4
p/
nl
Series of discrete decaying shocks
Pkl
with - < 4 at fuel
p/
FIG. 39. A variety of equivalent pulse shapes can provide the required
temporal history of pressure on the fuel: (a) continuous pressure variation:
(b) a series of discrete, constant-pressure shocks with P, + ,/P, less than
about 4; (c) a series of discrete decaying shocks (picket fence} with Pi+ tiPi
less than about 4 in the fuel.
would remain essentially Fermi degenerate.
From Eq. (38), the total compression ratio for three
shocks with a total pressure ratio of 100 is given by
d=11.5, h’l f w 1 e or a series of six shocks, the compression
ratio is 15.1. From Eq. (41), the isentropic compression ratio
for a pressure ratio of 100 is given by vI= 15.9
The timing of these successive shocks must be precisely
controlled. Since we want to keep all but a few percent of the
total fuel nearly Fermi degenerate, all shocks must be timed
to coalesce near the inside surface of the fuel. If two or more
shocks coalesce before reaching the inner surface of the fuei,
the fuel inside the position where they coalesce will see a
much larger pressure ratio, with a correspondingly higher
entropy change. On the other hand, if the inner region of the
fuel has a chance to decompress before all of the shocks have
passed through, the region of the fuel within the rarefaction
will see a larger pressure ratio and, again, a larger entropy
change.
A wide variety of pulse shapes, such as those shown
schematically in Fig. 39 can be used. The continuously vary-
ing pulse in Fig. 39(a) is potentially isentropic, but in prac-
tice, the rate of power change is steep enough that the pres-
sure pulses generated by different parts of the pulse shape
usually steepen into shocks before they reach the interior of
the fuel. The series of steps in Fig. 39(b) generates a series of
discrete shocks whose pressure ratio and timing are adjusted.
In the “picket fence” pulse shape in Fig. 39(c), the laser
drive is on for short pulses and off between the pulses. This
launches “blast waves” (shocks followed immediately and
continuously weakened by rarefactions) into the capsule. The
pressure of each blast wave is chosen so that it has the de-
sired pressure when it arrives at the fuel.
3956 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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Time
(=) 20
2pB:; 10
0 -‘- Aluminum
thickness
0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 4
(4 20 Time (ns) Time
Aluminum
thickness
c
0
0 1 2 3 012345
Time (ns)
FIG. 40. Shock-wave measurements on Nova demonstrated OUT ability to produce the time-varying ablation pressures required for high-gain ICE
NIP capsules, described in Sec. XlTI, require pulses with
a contrast that varies from about 10 to 50. The pulse shape
for the NIF baseline PT target (see Figs. 106 and 107 in Sec.
XIII) generates four shocks that result in an entropy change
AS=4 in the main cryogenic fuel. Figure 37 shows the P vs
p trajectory for the NIP target main fuel region.
That Nova can deliver widely varying, precisely con-
trolled pulse shapes has been demonstrated by using a
wedge-shaped aluminum “witness plate” in the wall of a
hohlraum,‘08-“0 as shown in Fig. 40. Radiation ablation on
the hohlraum side of the witness plate generates a shock.
When this shock reaches the outside of the witness plate,
optical emission is generated, which we view by means of an
ultraviolet streak camera at X=280 nm, with the slit aligned
along the length of the witness plate. If a constant-velocity
shock is generated, position versus time, at which optical
emission is first observed in the slit has constant slope, as
shown in Fig. 40(a). If the radiative power driving the shock
increases with time, causing a time-varying shock velocity,
then the slope is not constant, as shown in Fig. 40(b). In
general, when measured radiation temperature is used in the calculations, the shock velocities produced by these pulse
shapes are well matched by the calculations, as indicated in
Fig. 40(c) for a 2.3 ns, 3: l-contrast pulse (labeled ps22), and
Fig. 40(d) for a 3.2 ns, 8:1-contrast pulse (~~23). (The dots
are from experimental measurements.) In the calculations,
the shock position corresponds to the edge of the dark band.
These pulse shapes were used in the symmetry experiments
discussed in Sec. IX.
Pulse-shaped implosions”‘~“2’g5’96 also show the ex-
pected increase in density, as shown in Fig. 41 for a constant-
power, 1 ns pulse and an implosion using ps22. The capsules
were plastic shells with 50 atm DD fuel fill and 0.1 atm
argon doping, as shown in Fig. 42. Figure 41(b) shows the
size of the 3 keV emission from the imploded core. Some of
this emission comes from the plastic pusher, so the size of
the x-ray emission does not directly indicate the change in
density. A more direct measure of the change in density
comes from Stark broadeningn3 of the argon He-/3 x-ray line
profile, as shown in Fig. 4l(cj. This measurement shows that
the density doubled with this modest level of pulse shaping,
in agreement with calculations.
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3957
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(a)
Laser power
profile 25 I . c I
$ 20
i 15
8
s 10 5 in 1
0-
0 1
Time (ns) 25
$ 20
g 15
t 10
2 5
0 m
0 1 2 3
Time (ns)
t 1-ns square 4-- Laser pulse shape ----+ 2.3-ns shaped
I-ns square medium drive
Wavelength (A) 3:l contrast drive
ii s
$ 5
c
.&
t
E 3.30 3.35 3.40 3.45 3.50
Wavelength (A)
FIG. 41. Implosion experiments with shaped drive demonstrate higher convergences and fuel densities at the same peak drive pressure.
V. IMPLOSION DYNAMICS
The implosion of an ICF capsule can be described by a
rocket equation, as given in Eq. (22). In an ablation-driven
rocket, the exhaust, which is the target corona, is continually
!i ‘C 0 250
200
150
100
50
0 /--i
0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
Time (I-M)
106w g
180 200 220 240 260 280 180 200 220 240 280 280
Peak drive temperature (eV) Peak drive temperature (eV)
FIG. 42. Nova implosion experiments show the expected scaling of yield
and fuel ion temperature with radiation temperature.
3958 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 heated so that it remains nearly isothermal as it expands,
instead of having no internal energy, as assumed for the ideal
rocket.
The ideal rocket has the efficiency (x ln2 x)/(1 -x), as
shown in Fig. 5, where x=mlmo is the ratio of the payload
mass m to the initial rocket mass mO. The band of achievable
efficiencies in Fig. 5 corresponds to the range seen in nu-
merical simulations for ICF capsules. The top of the band is
typical of radiation-driven implosions, which have hydrody-
namic efficiencies of 15%-20%. X rays that drive the implo-
sion are deposited at high density near the ablation front.
Laser-driven, direct-drive implosions have lower hydrody-
namic efficiency than do x-ray-driven implosions because
the laser energy is deposited in the target corona at a density
and radius outside the ablation front. This energy must then
be conducted to the ablation surface. In a spherical target, the
efficiency of this conduction process decreases as the dis-
tance between the laser absorption region and the ablation
front increases.*t4*‘ts This is essentially a solid-angle effect.
Hence, lasers with longer wavelengths, which have a lower
critical density and are absorbed at larger radius, have lower
implosion efficiencies. Direct-drive targets that use a laser
wavelength of i-1 pm typically have an implosion efficiency
of 5%-IO%, depending on details of the target.
The minimum capsule size that will achieve ignition and
Review Article
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propagating burn into the main fuel depends strongly on the
achievable implosion velocity. This velocity, in turn, is de-
termined primarily by the peak pressure that can be gener-
ated consistent with efficient coupling of the driver energy to
the capsule and by the degree of hydrodynamic instability of
the implosion process.
The pressure P generated by ablation scales as a power
of the incident flux I:
P=P,Z"I, (42)
where al is less than 1. The mass ablation rate ti is also
given by a power of the incident flux:
iiz = n&la=, (43)
where a:! is also less than 1. If the pusher is imploded adia-
batically, then the pressure and density p are related by
P=P&'3 p3/5 p;‘5[(3/5h*
Or p= p;tsp3/5 = p;i5p3/5 2 (44)
where /3 is the ratio of the pressure at a given density to the
Fermi pressure P, . Equation (22) for the implosion velocity
Viq can be written in terms of the intensity I:
Vi-p=: In z= 2 Jai-9 h p”“Ev,, h mo.
m m (45)
The ablation velocity-the velocity with which the ablation
front moves through the shell, Vabl--is given by the mass
ablation rate divided by the shell density:
v
abl jl _ P;‘5p3’5~o p-(3/5)a*= p pz2-(3/5)q*
P pgn abl
(46)
The ablation velocity is a critical quantity for evaluating
the hydrodynamic instability of an imploding shell. High ab-
lation velocities result in reduced growth from RT instabili-
ties, as discussed in Set VI.
Equations (42)-(46) are valid for both direct drive and
indirect drive, but the coefficients differ significantly. For
direct ~ve,15,115,116 we have, approximately,
From these two equations, we then have
Vimp(CIdS)D,D.= 105X 108(ZX2)“3 In
( i z
[email protected].= 4.3x104p3/5~~~l15~-14/15, (50)
where we have used PD-r(Mbar)=2pp5’3 (g/cm3) from Eq.
(35). Intensity is in units of lOI W/cm2. Laser wavelength X
is in micrometers. We assume here that the compressibility
of the ablator material has been matched to that of DT (e.g.,
by pulse shaping or control of x-ray preheat). The AR used in the following analysis is the total shell thickness, although
at peak velocity, most of the shell in an optimized target will
be fuel. These relationships for direct drive are valid for
situations in which the laser absorption occurs predominantly
near the critical density. Dependence on laser wavelength
will be reduced if the intensity is low enough that significant
absorption occurs well below critical density. The exponents
of intensity and laser wavelength dependence can be ob-
tained from dimensional analysis by using a simple model of
the physics involved. We set the incident intensity equal to
pressure times blowoff velocity at the sonic point. For direct
drive, the sonic point occurs near the critical density pc, so
we have
1
z-+LKPcv;E p V&wt$qzh2)1’3,
or
where V, is the thermal velocity. This matches the scaling in
Eq. (47). For the mass ablation rate, we have, at the critical
density,
jd 1 z 113
rn”pcV*~ p (zhyai~ T;4
( i .
This reproduces the scaling in Eq. (48). The scaling in Eqs.
(49) and (50) follow from applying the definition of Vs, and
V,, to Eqs. (47) and (48).
For indirect drive,‘t7-1’9 we have, approximately,
P(Mbar)I,n.=3~.5= 17OZ;;‘, (51)
fi&/CIl12/S)~,D,= 3 x 1 05T3 = 1 07z314 r 15 . (52)
From these two equations, we then have
vi,p(cm/s)r,Dz lo76 In z= 1.8X 107Z::’
(53)
(54)
These equations, which are written both in terms of the ra-
diation temperatures T, (in hundreds of eV, or “heV”) and
an equivalent intensity, are valid approximations for capsules
for which the capsule ablator albedo (the ratio of the reemit-
ted x-ray flux to the incident flux) is near zero. Because it is
usually possible to choose a low-Z ablator that has suffi-
ciently h&h opacity in its cold state to absorb the incident
radiation but still have very low opacity in the heated blow-
off region, this approximation is reasonable for much of the
capsule implosion history. This approximation is valid longer
for a sphere with diverging flow than for a planar sample.
When the albedo of the capsule blowoff starts becoming sig-
nificant, Eqs. (51)-(54) become time dependent. The expo-
nents in Eqs. (51)-(54) also can be obtained by dimensional
analysis of a simple model of the physics. We again set the
incident flux equal to the pressure times the blowoff velocity
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3959
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at the sonic point. For radiation drive, the sonic-point tem-
perature is proportional to the radiation drive temperature,
and the incident intensity is proportional to 7$. Hence, we
have
or
PuT;%~Z~~~.
This reproduces the scaling given in Eq. (51). From the
rocket equation, we have
Vi~p=f In zS”m in z.
Hence, we have
P mm -ccT~cc[~‘~.
Vtb
This reproduces the scaling given in Eq. (52). The coeffi-
cients in Eqs. (5 1) and (52) can be estimated analytically,1’7
but the exact numerical values depend on details of the ab-
lator and the pulse length and shape. The values given in
Eqs. (51) and (52) are approximately valid for ablators cho-
sen to minimize capsule albedo.
Subsonic ablation implosion experiments on Nova,
which are described by Eqs. (Sl)-(54), have been very suc-
cessful in the 200-300 eV radiation-temperature regime pre-
dicted to be required for laboratory capsules that would ig-
nite and bum when driven by l- 10 MJ lasers. Figure 42
shows the experimental results and LASNEX simuIations97 for
a variety of 1 ns experiments with drive temperatures be-
tween about 200 and 260 eV. The capsules had DD fuel. The
shells were composed of a polystyrene microballoon, over-
coated with a few micrometers of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as
a permeation barrier. The capsules are then coated by plasma
polymerization, with a carbon-hydrogen polymer CH, with
n - 1.3 (although the material is generally just referred to as
CH). Within the limits of the laser and target diagnostics at
the time, features such as bang time, ion temperature, and
yield are well matched by calculations, and the predicted
strong dependence on radiation temperature is observed.
Other experiments on Nova have been used to measure im-
plosion symmetry, fuel density and pr, pusher pr, and bum
width. There is also a good correspondence between mea-
sured and calculated values for these quantities.
The shell IFAR, R/AR, the ratio of the shell radius R to
its thickness can be related to Viq, v&1, and V,, by inte-
grating the rocket equation. The work W done on the implod-
ing fuel by the pressure P generated from ablation is given
by
w= I P dV.
w.
Most of the work is done while the shell is still at a large
fraction of its initial radius. Shell velocities typically ap-
proach their peak values by the time the shell reaches half its
initial radius.
If we assume that the shell is accelerated over half its
radius. we have I tl 1
I fl
0 u dt=ZR=
0 V,, In z dt,
where
ml lnG=ln (55)
(55)
where f,(x) = [ I - (1 +n)exp(-x)].
In numerical simulations, R/AR varies in time. The
maximum in R/AR typically occurs just as the compressed
shell begins to accelerate. This maximum is not a represen-
tative value for R/AR, because the shell has not moved very
far? and the density has not relaxed to a more steady-state
distribution. For most high-gain targets, a more representa-
tive value of R/AR, for use in comparison with the analysis
presented here, is the value at a time when the shell has
moved about a of the initial radius. At this time, the shell has
moved about 4 of the total acceleration distance and has ex-
perienced l/v? of the total number of e-foldings of growth
for constant acceleration.
For implosions in which most of the mass is ablated, or
in other words, if the implosion velocity is greater than the
rocket exhaust velocity V,, , then f, is approximately linear
in x. Since typical implosion velocities range from 2 to
4X 10’ cm/s, this case generally applies to radiation drive, as
seen from Eq. (53), for radiation temperatures of a few hun-
dred electron volts. We obtain, for the indirect-drive IFAR,
WAR)I,D, 9
-0.56 p, for 4>?>0.8.
abl ex (57)
If the implosion velocity is less than the rocket exhaust
velocity, then fr is approximately quadratic in x. In this case,
which applies to direct drive, as seen from Eq. (49) for typi-
cal implosion velocities and typical laser intensities of
10’4-10’6 W/cm2, the relationship between the shell IFAR,
CRIARID,D, and the rocket parameters is somewhat more
complex:
en,
D,D,= Oh7’ Va,,,Vex’ for 0.8>?>0.1. (58)
ex
Equation (58) can be rewritten in a way that makes the . . physics clearer. By definrtron, V&l =yizIp. From the rocket
equation, we have P/it= V,, . Combining these two, we
have
pv2
g-o.7 -y.
Essentially this same result can be obtained from a simple
model for implosion of a shell without ablation. If we apply
a constant pressure to a shell with enclosed volume V, then
the work done is just PV. If we set this work equal to the
kinetic energy given to a shell of thickness Ar and density p,
we have
3960 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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PV= P T R3=i MV&,,-~ 4npR2 AR VFmp
or
R 3 pv2 --‘--
AR 2 P’
To within a factor of 2, this is the same as Eq. (58).
Equations (57) and (58) were obtained by assuming an
ice block model for the shell density (constant density across
the entire shell thickness). In an actual ICF capsule, pressure
and density gradients are necessary for the shell to have a
uniform acceleration. Within the accelerating shell, we have
,a=vP=$
If the material across the shell has constant entropy, we can
use PDT (Mbar)=2/3$‘3 (g/cm3) from Eq. (35) to obtain
With the boundary conditions p=po at r=O and
Jp dr=po AR, we obtain
63)
where p. is the peak density in the shell. The shell thickness
is usually defined as the distance between densities that are
l/e times the peak density. From Eq. (61), this is about 1:2X
that of the ice block model.
In general, radiation-driven implosions can be described
as high-ablation-rate, low-exhaust-velocity implosions. This
results in significant benefits for hydrodynamic stability.
Direct-drive implosions are high-exhaust-velocity, low-
ablation-rate implosions. In principle, this allows implosions
with higher implosion velocity than is the case for radiation
drive. For a particular velocity, it is instructive to compare
Eqs. (57) and (58). At a velocity of 3X lo7 cm/s, we use Eq.
(53) to obtain the following from Eq. (57):
R
( 1 21(Vi,,/3X107) 59(V@/3X107)
,hR ID = j?3’5Z9’40 = /33’5T;‘10 - . .
(62)
Using Eqs. (49) and (50) in Eq. (58), we obtain
80( Viq/3)2 6O(V /3X1O7)2
p3’5(z,5 iii = ‘me
4115
P3’5b 5 ,
X= f pm.
These IFARs have been adjusted by a factor of 1.2 to account
for the fact that the shell density is not a constant, as dis-
cntssed above.
The IFAR scales quadratically with velocity for direct
drive versus the linear relationship for indirect drive. If we
choose 3 pm light for direct drive, we see that at a velocity
of 3X lo7 cm/s, direct-drive shells have IFARs about a factor
of 3 higher at an incident intensity of 1015 W/cm’.for a given fuel adiabat. At higher velocities, direct-drive shells have
IFARs that are larger by increasing factors. The IFAR of
direct-drive shells can be reduced by increasing the fuel adia-
bat p, which makes the shell less compressible, although this
reduces the target gain and increases the ignition threshold.
The IFAR also can be decreased by increasing the intensity,
but there is a maximum intensity that is consistent with effi-
cient coupling and low levels of laser-driven plasma insta-
bilities. Optimizing these two constraints is discussed further
in Sec. VI.
From Eq. (62), the achievable implosion velocity for
radiation-driven capsules at fixed R/AR will be linearly pro-
portional to the ablation velocity or nearly linearly propor-
tional to the radiation temperature:
( Vimp) I.D.
6 315 R 19/40 =1.4x10 p AR ,5 . (64)
Since the minimum energy for ignition depends strongly
on the achievable implosion velocity, a great benefit will be
derived from operating at the highest possible hohlraum tem-
perature and IFAR. This equation also shows that achieving
an implosion velocity of 3X lo7 with an IFAR- Fermi-
degenerate shell with p= 1 for indirect drive would require a
minimum drive temperature of about 200 eV.
VI. HYDRODYNAMIC INSTABILITY
In general, the RT hydrodynamic instability sets an up-
per limit to the value of the shell IFAR, and hence to the
peak implosion velocity via Eqs. (62) and (63).
As described in Sec. II, Nuckolls’ 1972 paper’ was based
on the direct-drive implosion of bare drops or shells of DT.
To obtain gain at laser sizes much smaller than about 1 MJ,
Nuckolls used a very optimistic model for RT instability in
the presence of ablation. This model, described below, with
an assumption that implosions with absorbed laser intensities
approaching lOI W/cm2 would be feasible, resulted in pre-
dictions that ignition at laser energies approaching 1 kJ
might be feasible. Since these early optimistic predictions are
frequently cited, it is instructive to examine the original as-
sumptions and evaluate the changes that have occurred as the
experimental database and numerical modeling have im-
proved.
As described in his 1972 paper, the dispersion relation
for RT instability used by Nuckolls was one based on a
model of “fire polishing” during the ablation process:
y2=ka-k2 5=ka(l-k ARj, (65) P
where P, is the ablation pressure, k is the wave number, and
AR is the shell thickness. This dispersion relation predicts
that all wavelengths shorter than 2rrAR are stabilized and
that the maximum number of e-foldings is approximately
nmax=
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3961
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for constant acceleration and (1/2)a t2 = R/2.
Equations (23), (63), and (66) can be combined to obtain
E ca,,su,e(MJ) = 7
(67)
where a typical direct-drive coupling efficiency of 5% into
the compressed fuel is assumed. A laser wavelength of
X= l/3 ,um was chosen for this example. This transforms the
minimum driver energy for direct drive into a relationship
that depends only on the maximum allowed growth of hy-
drodynamic instabilities and the allowed laser intensity. If we
let the maximum number of e-foldings equal 6, we obtain
E caps&J)= 261;2’“. (68)
If we allow a maximum intensity of lOI W/cm2, then the
minimum driver energy is 1 kJ. In 1972, computers and nu-
merical models were just becoming powerful enough to be-
gin doing detailed evaluation of the effects of hydrodynamic
instability and the limits that laser plasma instabilities would
place on the allowable intensity. Early experiments indicated
that, because of reduced absorption and hot electron produc-
tion by plasma collective processes, laser intensities would
be limited to lOI to a few times lOI W/cm2, depending on
the laser wavelength.
Numerical calculations provided most of the guidance
for the growth of RT instability until quantitative data be-
came available in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. By
1974, numerical calculations5’ using the LASNEX code indi-
cated that direct-drive capsules designed for ignition and
gain would have much higher instability growth rates than
indicated by Eq. (66).
The dispersion relations that are most widely used today
are still analytic fits to numerical simulations. A widely used
formula for the growth of RT perturbations is given by
In this equation, k is the mode wave number, a is the accel-
eration, L is the density-gradient scale length in the ablation
front,-and s is a constant between 1 and 3. Equation (69)
with p-1 was obtained in 1983 from numerical simulations
for radiation-driven imp_losions. I20 Equation (69) also applies
to direct drivei2’ with ,L?= 3.
Although p is smaller for radiation drive than for direct
drive, ablation velocities at a typical intensity of lOI W/cm’
are about a factor of 10 larger for radiation drive, as seen by
comparing Eqs. (50) and (54), so that the stabilizing effects
of ablation are larger for radiation drive. The higher ablation
rates also result in thicker shells and larger density scale
lengths L for radiation-driven capsules. In optimized cap-
sules, the ablation and density scale-length effects are about
equally important stabilizing effects.
There is no simple analytical derivation of the ablation
stabilization given in Eq. (69), but a simple physical model
reproduces this result. The kV, term can be understood as a
simple convective effect due to the fact that RT modes are
surface modes. In the absence of ablation, the amplitude 77 of
a RT mode is given by ,I,eYnpxO, (70)
where y. is the growth rate in the absence of ablation and x0
is position measured relative to the initial surface of the
shell. In an ablating shell, the only material that matters to
the implosion is the material inside the ablation front. The
ablated material disappears beyond the sonic horizon of the
shell and no longer affects the implosion. When distance into
the shell is referenced relative to the ablation front xA , Eq.
(70) becomes
yeYO’e -(kxg+kV~t)=,(m-kV~lt,-kx~,
(71)
and growth is effectively reduced. In this model with a uni-
form density shell, it makes sense to define the ablation ve-
locity relative to the peak density, as was done earlier. How-
ever, in an actual density profile, the RT mode will not
necessarily be located near peak density. The coefficient
multiplying VA varies by a factor of about 2 in numerical
simulations, and this could be due to variations in the posi-
tion of the modes relative to the peak density. The factor of
2-3 difference between direct drive and indirect drive could
also be due to this effect. A more detailed analysis will be
required to better understand the differences in the dispersion
relation between direct and indirect drive.
The density gradient stabilization modification of the
first term in Eq. (69) also occurs because RT modes have a
finite spatial extent.‘22,‘“3 If there is not a sharp density dis-
continuity at an interface, the effective density difference
across the interface is reduced and the growth rate is re-
duced.
For direct drive, Eq. (69) is a generalization of another
formula obtained in 1985 by Takabe et al.:‘24
y=O.9&-jkVA, (721
where p varies in numerical simulations but is usually 3-4.
Equation (72) is similar to a form obtained by Bodner*25
from an analytical model of ablation, with a density discon-
tinuity at the ablation front. Both Eqs. (69) and (72) have a
far weaker form of ablation stabilization than that given by
Eq. (65).
Direct-drive experiments ‘26~‘27 have now been carried
out that agree with the numerical simulations and are in sub-
stantial agreement with Eq. (69), although more work needs
to be done.
Nova Experiments’28-‘“o and calculations for indirect-
drive RT instability also are in substantial agreement and are
consistent with Eq. (69). Figure 43 shows a typical setup for
these experiments. Data are obtained by looking at an x-ray
backlighter through a sample placed near the hohlraum wall.
By looking face on through a perturbed sample, using either
an x-ray framing camera or an x-ray streak camera, one can
observe the flow of material from thin to thick regions as an
increase in the contrast in x-ray transmission through the
sample. Representative data and calculations are shown in
Fig. 43(a). Looking edge on to a perturbed sample, one can
record the shape of the perturbations on an x-ray framing
camera. Representative edge-on data and calculations are
shown in Fig. 43(b). By using an x-ray streak camera and
3962 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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Data Model Cbowlh of hvmonlca
w Om*
2nd
KFa
harmonlo
4th
harmanle
- . ima (no) Face-on: streaked
Side-on: streaked Time (n*)
1 2 3
xii 0
s wj
+ loo 40
;,, 4
60 -8
200 80 I!
250 100
FXG. 43. Experiments 129*130 on planar targets have allowed quantitative evaluation of the growth of RT instability in the presence of radiation ablation. (a)
Face-on streaked images provide a 1-D history of the time variation in the spatial distribution of the x-ray backlighter transmission through the perturbed
sample, (b) Side-on gated images provide a 2-D record of the spatial distribution of the perturbed foil. (c) Side-on streaked images provide a record of the foil
position as a function of time.
looking edge on, one can record sample position versus time.
Representative data and calculations are shown in Fig. 43(c).
Integrating Eq. (69), the maximum number of e-foldings
for direct drive is given approximately by
iZ= y dt-
where I= kR is the Legendre polynomial mode number. A
value for the density-gradient scale length L = 0.1 AR has
been chosen. This is near the maximum that has been
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3963 achieved in calculations of direct-drive implosions designed
to minimize RT instability. In doing the integral, a constant
acceleration over a distance x equal to half the initial radius
R is assumed. By the time the shell has moved this far, the
volume inside the shell has been reduced by almost an order
of magnitude, and little more PdV work can be done on the
shell. As described in Sec. V, the value for AR in Eq. (73) is
an average value of the shell thickness. .hr general, a value
for AI? taken from simulations at the time when the shell has
accelerated to about i its peak velocity, or when it has moved
to about 3 of the initial radius, is representative.
The quantity m/m0 comes from the direct-drive rocket
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I
-. , f
'. --po =. a 7& ' I
- ?Q*, Qfi/
' &e/q
100 -,ta '. ,@/@ :*;
'-. *e*- 2
I%
- .z!el, Direct drive -.
,,<’ *e-c
c E m '.~~=3.5xlO7am/s,/ cl\
'. P = 31 -.
zl -\
!? '\ / -.
'c
g IO- .. I .N.
-f.
I '\
f '.
r '.
'.
'\
'<
'.
.%
I I >\,
0.1 1 .o 10
Laser energy (MJ)
FIG. 44. Calculations55 from the University of Rochester that constrain RT
growth to 6-7 e-foIdings predict about a 1 MJ threshold laser energy for
direct drive.
equation, Eq. (49). For direct drive, over the range of veloci-
ties and intensities of interest to ICF,
(l-~i=l-expi~)-O.2~~il;i”3. (74)
Using Eqs. (63) and (74) in Eq. (73) yields the approximate
maximum number of e-foldings for direct drive:
(75)
again choosing h= l/3 ,um as the laser wavelength. If this
equation is combined with Eq. (23) for a 5% efficient cou-
pling between driver and imploding fuel, the required driver
energy becomes
512 1 p4ilf, . 0’6)
Equation (76) has a much higher ignition threshold and a
much weaker dependence on laser intensity than does Eq.
(67) obtained from Nuckolls’ more optimistic model for RT
instability.
If we allow a maximum amplification of 1000 (6.9
e-foldings), then we have
5/21
&iver(MJ)~.~.~~;5 . (77)
This result is consistent with recent calculations55 at the Uni-
versity of Rochester, as shown in Fig. 44.
For indirect drive, Eq. (73) takes on a particularly simple
form that depends only on the shell IFAR, R/AR. Because of
the relatively low exhaust velocity, most of the shell mass is
ablated in indirect-drive implosions to achieve the required
implosion velocity. Hence, we take (l-m/m&-0.8 in the
integral and obtain
(nI.D.)accel- -/ydty/ ’ AR 1 +0.21(ARIR)-“.XE R’
(78)
A constant acceleration over half the shell radius is again
assumed, and L = 0.2 AR has been chosen for the density gradient at the ablation front. For indirect drive, values for L
typically range from 0.1 to 0.5 AR, depending on the ablator
material and the x-ray drive spectrum. Here L= 0.5 AR is
the largest gradient scale length consistent with maintaining
a given peak shell density and fuel adiabat. As in Eq. (73),
AR in Eq. (78) is an average value of the shell thickness.
The large reduction in growth for indirect-drive capsules
[for Fermi degenerate implosions with p= 1 in Eq. (35)] rela-
tive to direct drive was first shown in LASNEX calculations.”
This reduction occurs because of the high ablation rates and
larger density gradients at the ablation front. From one point
of view, implosions driven by soft x rays could be considered
as being driven by a very short wavelength, very broadband
laser that penetrates to solid density and deposits energy over
a significant fraction of the shell thickness.
If we limit the maximum number of e-foldings to about
six, then Eq. (78) implies that RlAR=30.
Instabilities during the deceleration phase also must be
controlled. For the case of greatest interest in high-gain ICF
targets, the instability during deceleration occurs between the
DT hot spot, at high temperature and relatively low density,
and the DT main fuel. Although electron conduction pro-
vides some ablation stabilization as the hot/cold boundary
moves into the cold fuel, stabilization occurs primarily be-
cause eIectron conduction establishes a density gradient be-
tween the hot and cold material. This gradient is typically 0.1
to 0.2r, where r is the final compressed radius. Without de-
celeration, the hot/cold interface would arrive at the origin at
about ignition time, so the effective deceleration distance is
about equal to the compressed radius r. If just the first term
in Eq. (69) is used with L -0.2~ and constant deceleration is
assumed over a distance r, the number of e-foldings of
growth durmg deceleration ndecel is given by
I 9i LL ndecelC 1 -t-0.22’
Because of the density gradient from electron conduction,
growth during deceleration typically is limited to about three
e-foldings over a broad spectrum of modes, as seen from Eq.
(79).
The source of perturbation at the hot/cold interface can
be either initial perturbations on the inside of the shell, or
perturbations that feed through from the outside of the shell.
The RT modes are surface modes that decrease away from
the surface approximately as
rl= vOe-k AR= ‘Iloe-I ARIR. G-30)
Hence, the number of e-foldings on the inner surface due to
feedthrough is reduced from the number on the outer surface
by
nfeedthrough= --I$.
Because feedthrough decreases exponentially with I, it will
be dominated by lower-order modes,
The combined effects of acceleration, feedthrough, and
deceleration result in a total number of e-foldings of ampli-
fication of perturbations given by
3964 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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%cel+ nfeedthmugh+ lldecel
= ALigiyl*8l(AR/R)+ ILiz* ‘$2)
When the effects of growth during acceleration,
feedthrough, and deceleration are combined with the fact that
the spectral distribution of perturbations for typical capsules
falls off as I increases, the principal modes that contribute to
perturbations in the fuel are spherical harmonic mode num-
bers less than about 30 or 40. For RIAR=30 the number of
e-foldings predicted by Eq. (82) is plotted in Fig. 48(a),
which is discussed below.
Equation (82) applies to the amplification of perturba-
tions that grow initially on the outside of the shell during
acceleration. Perturbations initially present on the inside also
must be taken into account. However, because the growth of
these perturbations is limited by Eq. (79), their initial ampli-
tude can be larger before they degrade performance. This
does become an important consideration in specifying the
cryogenic layer uniformity, as discussed in Sec. XIII.
The maximum tolerable capsule aspect ratio depends on
the capsule surface finish and the spectral distribution of per-
turbations. The effect of a whole spectrum of modes, when
all of the modes remain in the linear or only weakly nonlin-
ear regime, can be calculated by using the theory of Haa.n.131
This is the case of greatest interest with regard to high-gain
ICF capsules. In this regime, the primary nonlinearity is a
transition from exponential growth in time to linear growth
in time for those modes that exceed an amplitude
@2rlk2L= (XIkL). This criterion, which is valid when a
full spectrum of modes is present, is a generalization of the
single-mode criterion of Layzer,132 which specifies that the
transition from exponential growth to linear growth occurs
when 7=0.6/k. The factor i/L accounts for the number of
similar modes about k that can contribute to the saturation of
mode k, including a density-of-states factor with periodic
boundary conditions of length L. In amplitude or physical
space, this correction occurs because a wave packet with
small but finite spectral width cannot be distinguished over
short distances from a single mode at k. We expect saturation
to occur at roughly the same amplitude in both cases, or
when the amplitude of each spectral component of the mul-
timode case is given by the Haan criterion. Except for this
transition to growth linear in time, all of the modes in a full
spectrum of perturbations for most single-shell high-gain
ICF capsules with realistic surface finishes can be treated as
growing independently. The amplitude generated by a full
spectrum of modes with random phases can then be calcu-
lated by taking a root-mean-square (RMS) sum over all
modes. The best estimates of these effects require the use of
a large number of detailed numerical simulations to calculate
the growth factors for a large number of individual modes.
For a more quantitative description of the model, we
define the spherical harmonic modes as
R&t)= I di2 Yg(fi)R(fi,tj, (83) where R( a,t) is the radius at solid angle fl and time t, and
Yl*, is the complex conjugate of the 1,m spherical harmonic.
Initial surface characterization is used to determine R,,(O).
Numerical simulations of one mode at a time throughout the
linear regime are used to define Ryi( t), the amplitude to
which mode 1 would have grown if the evolution were en-
tirely linear. This quantity is directly proportional to Rl,(0),
with the proportionality factor determined from the simula-
tion. Sufficient simulations are run to interpolate to all con-
tributing modes. Given the set of quantities R:;(t), ‘we de-
termine if the spectrum is nonlinear by comparing R::(t) to
S(l)=2R/12, (84)
where R is the mean radius. If any modes R&(t) have am-
plitude larger than S(Z), they are replaced with an estimated
nonlinear amplitude. That is,
R yf,( t) if R$t)<S(Z),
S(Z){1 +In[R~~(t)lS(Z)]}, if Ryi(t)>S(Z).
(85)
This construction gives growth linear in time at large ampli-
tude, with the appropriate velocity, if Rff,( t) grows exponen-
tially. The mix amplitude at any time of interest is deter-
mined from the RMS sum of the modes,
a”(t)= & 2 hnW12- g ~;kh,zI’ dk
= & j- [R(a)-R,]’ dl-in.
The bubble amplitude is taken to be v’%, and the spike am-
plitude to be (1 +A)v%, where A is the Atwood number.74
Haan has developed a second-order mode coupling
theory133 that can be used to determine when this approxi-
mation breaks down. This theory is in generally good agree-
ment with initial experiments134 that impose multiple initial
modes on samples and look at the growth of sum and differ-
ence modes. These results confirm that mode coupling is not
important for most cases of interest in indirect-drive ICE
Significant progress has been made toward experimen-
tally verifying this approach to modeling hydrodynamic in-
stabilities and the resultant effects of a whole spectrum of
modes (mix) in ICF capsules. These experiments exploit
controlled variations in initial capsule roughness. Capsules
can be roughened intentionally via laser ablation (early ex-
periments described later used other techniques to vary sur-
face roughness), and the surface can be characterized in de-
tail with atomic force microscopy (AFM). As a function of
initial surface roughness, model calculations predict observ-
ables including (1) neutron yield, pr, as inferred from neu-
tron measurements, and (2) spectroscopic emission from
dopants in the fuel and pusher. Instability growth can be
varied by changing drive profiles and ablator composition.
The results shown in Fig. 45 came from a pair of 1991
Nova experiments in which the DD fuel region was doped
with argon and the polystyrene pusher was doped with
c~o~ne~‘1”‘12’135 One of the experiments used a “smooth”
capsule, and the other used a capsule with a deliberately
perturbed surface. The smooth capsule had a I2MS surface
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3965
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Scanning electron mlcroscope
(SEM) Image of “bumpy-ball”
target surface 0 = 1.7 pm Bumpy outer surface
61 t tv,
2.6 2.6 3.0 3.2 3.4
Energy (keV) Smooth outer surface
2.6 2.6 3.0 3.2 3.4
6
5
1.6 2.6 3.0 3.2 3.4
Energy (kev)
FIG. 45. Spectroscopic emission measurements I35 from smooth and bumpy-ball targets show the expected differences caused by hydrodynamic-instability-
driven mix between the fuel and the surrounding pusher. Because of mix, a bumpy outer surface results in enhanced Cl emission from the pusher and reduced --
Ar emission from the fuel.
finish of 300-500 A, and the rough surface had a RMS of
about 1.6 pm. In this case, the rough capsule was made by
coating the polystyrene mandrel with small polystyrene
beads before depositing the CH ablator material. The spec-
troscopic signatures of the two capsules were expected to be
very different. The smooth capsule was calculated to have
little mix between the plastic pusher and the fuel region. In
this case, the argon emission would come on early and be
quite strong. Chlorine emission would be weak and would
come on only later when electron conduction from the fuel
region heats up the pusher. In the “bumpy ball” case, sig-
nificant mix was expected, and the fuel and pusher emission
would come on almost at the same time. In addition, the
argon emission was weaker because the fuel was cooled by
mix, and the chlorine emission was brighter because of mix.
This is what is observed from a streak-camera record of the
emission spectrum,“‘~“* as shown in Fig. 46. More work is
needed to verify that the Haan model for estimating mix in
ICF capsules can be applied to ignition capsules proposed for
NIF. This is the ultimate goal of the HEP experiments rec-
ommended by the NAS. nitude of instability growth can be adjusted toward that of a
NIF capsule. The fuel has argon as a dopant, and the poly-
styrene mandrel has a titanium dopant. The variations in neu-
tron signatures with surface roughness, as well as dopant
spectroscopic signatures, can be used to quantify reduction
of capsule performance due to hydrodynamic instabilities.
Figure 48(a) shows the number of e-foldings of growth,
at peak bum rate for Nova and at ignition for the NIF, as a
function of the spherical harmonic mode number for the
HEP-4 capsule in Fig. 47 and the NIF capsule shown in Fig.
49. The simple model from Eq. (82) is a good approximation
of the number of e-foldings for the modes of interest. Also
shown in Fig. 48(b) for the two capsules, as a function of
spherical harmonic mode number, is the running integral of
the contribution to the total RMS perturbation of the capsule,
using the Haan mix model and the modal amplitude spec-
trum shown in Fig. 48(c). Because of ablation stabilization,
the effects of feedthrough, and the initial modal amplitude
decrease with increasing 1, only modes with 1<20 make sig-
nificant contributions to the final perturbation amplitude for
these capsules.
Experiments (HEP-4) are now underway on Nova that A feature of the instability growth of all these capsules is
use capsules and pulse shapes (Fig. 47) that have hydrody- an oscillation in the amplification as a function of spherical
namic instability growth approaching that expected for NIF harmonic mode number. Oscillation of the initial shock as it
capsules. 136*137 These plastic capsules use bromine or germa- propagates across the shell is largely responsible for this ef-
nium dopants in the ablator to suppress photon preheat and fect. Perturbations on the shell surface result in perturbations
to control the density-gradient scale length at the ablation to the shock generated by the foot of the pulse. These per-
front. By varying the dopant level and pulse shape, the mag- turbations are stable and oscillate as they propagate across
3966 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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Bumps No bumps
20080110 20061811
FIG. 46. Poor target surface finish increases the amount of mix, causing the Cl dopant in the’ablator to heat and emit early in the compression.“‘S’12
the shell. The phase of these oscillations, when the shock
reaches the inner surface of the shell, depend on the shell
thickness, wavelength, and shock strength. The rarefaction
that propagates backward through the shell is also perturbed
and has an amplitude that depends on the perturbation of the
shock. When the rarefaction gets back to the ablation sur-
face, the perturbation of the rarefaction can add to or subtract
from the perturbation at the ablation front. The rapid reduc-
tion in growth of the HEP-4 capsule beyond I=30 is caused
by this effect. Numerical calculations of amplitude versus 1
oscillate at larger Z’s than those shown in Fig. 48. This effect
CH + 0.07% TI
W ps26 drtve vs time
Time (ns)
FIG. 47. (a) The HEP-4 experiments on Nova use doped ablator capsules;
tb) pulse shaping (~~26) results in hydrodynamic pertmbation growth jlOO-
300) that approaches that of NIF targets. has recently been observed in experiments on GEKKO
XII.138
Perturbations for the HEP-4 capsules are impressed on
the capsule surface by a laser ablation process. The initial
capsules have a 200-300 a surface finish.‘39 An ArF laser
operating at X=0.193 pm is then used to ablate pits on the
capsule surface.‘40 By controlling the size, depth, and spatial
distribution of these pits, a specified spectral distribution and
amplitude can be impressed on a capsule. The spectral dis-
tribution shown in Fig. 48(c) arises from a random distribu-
tion of 200’pits with a ‘7.5 ,um diam Gaussian spatial profile.
(a) NIF and HEP4 ps26 E3r targets (b) NIF and HEP4 ps26 Br targets
growth factor at ignition (NIF) normalized running sum of mix
and oeak burn (Nova) VI mode amDtitUde usina Haan multimode
number model) -
10 20 30 40 50
Mode number Mode number
(c) 2-D power spectra for a 5000-A RMS
perturbation produced by laser
ablation of 200 randomly located,
75-pm-diam pits
0 20 40 60 80 100
Mode number
FTG. 48. Growth-factor spectrum for ps26 brominated targets compares well
with MF targets.
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3967
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Capsule yield 15 MJ
O(l 0 5 IO 15 20
Time (ns)
FIG. 49. The NIF baseline target absorbs 150 kJ and has robust ignition and
bum-propagation characteristics: (surface finish so.08 pm peak to valley);
(b) radiation-temperature input to capsule simulations.
Figure 50 shows the yield versus RMS amplitude for cap-
sules with this spectral distribution of perturbations. The fall-
off in yield with increasing perturbation amplitude is consis-
tent with calculations using the Haan mix model. Detailed
characterization of these experiments, including drive and
symmetry, is still ongoing, but absolute yields are within a
factor of 2-3 of that predicted from initial calculations. R Scaling laws for the capsule absorbed power P,, , radius
Car,, and pulse length qmp, can be obtained using Eqs. (64)
and (87). If we keep the IFAR, RIAR, fixed, we have
and
Using Eq. (23) with a 15% hydroefficiency typical of
indirect drive, and Eq. (64) with RIAR=30, we obtain the
minimum capsule energy:
E capsu,e(MJ)~.~.~0.03~M~~P-3’2~;;)’8 or
Tr
i i -4.5
=0.045M,~~- 92
300 eV ’ E,aser(MJ)I.D.=0.23 & M,TP-3’2i;,9’8
i. i
where M,, is the margin allowed for the effects of hydrody-
namic instability and asymmetry in the compressed fuel vol-
ume. Equation (87) gives capsule energies very close to the
projections in Nuckolls’ 1972 paper, and in fact scales more
favorably with intensity. Equation (87) can be compared to
Eq. (77) for direct drive. If we take M,r=2, then the mini-
mum capsule absorbed energy is about 90 W, with a radia-
tion drive temperature of 300 eV. Since lo%- 15% of the
driver energy can be coupled to the capsule, the minimum
driver size at 300 eV is 0.6-0.9 MJ, comparable to direct
drive. The baseline NIF target, shown in Fig. 49, absorbs 150
kJ. This capsule, with a velocity of 4X IO7 cm/s, can tolerate
perturbations that penetrate more than 25% of the capsule
radius and are 25% out of round. Below this perturbation
fraction, enough hot-spot pr remains for ignition, and the
capsule gives a nearly undegraded yield.
(88)
E cap= G@)
R ~ P5E:~p3
cap p3 ’ (904
9 Br-doped c8psules with hydrodynamic growth of 100-300 show
clear ybld degradation wlth Increa8lng surface roughness
lo7l 0.1 1
Surface roughness RMB (pm)
FIG. 50. Quantitative studies of implosions with large RT growth factors are now possible. For the HEP-4 capsules, surface roughness is imposed by precision
laser ablation during fabrication. Precision Nova operation has dramatically reduced shot-to-shot yield variations, making these measurements possible.
3968 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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PW
P cap+/5T;.93E213. (904
Scaled to the NIF target in Fig. 49, we have approximately
R,,(cm)=0.65 pEg
T;.m ’ (914
(91b)
P,,,(TW)=20p2’5T;.93E(MJ)~;, (914
where r is the energy divided by the peak power. These
quantities can be related to the laser energy if the hohlraum
coupling efficiency nohl is known:
P,aser(TW)= 1 33p2J5T;.93E;;;
(93)
As before, T, is in units of lo2 eV.
VII. CAPSULE GAIN
Equations also can be developed for the yield and gain
as functions of the driver energy. The yield Y can be approxi-
mated by
iFIF Y=M&N. --MFET.N. q, b-l,+ 6
where +.N. is the fusion energy per gram for DT and (pr)F is
the area1 density of the compressed fuel. The fuel mass MF is
given by
iW
where vH is the hydrodynamic efficiency of an implosion. If
we assume constant hydrodynamic efficiency and use Eq.
(23), with fixed capsule adiabat, to relate E,, and Vimp, we
obtain
MFU Eg. (96)
For the adiabatic compression of a shell of DT, we have
EF= #&=2&“F/3 or PFQ V&, (97)
where EF is the specific energy per gram and p is held con-
stant.
For a sphere with mass M,, we have
1/34!‘5
dnver- (98)
Combining Eqs. (94), (96), and (98), we obtain
(99) This simple analysis ignores the hot spot, which typically
occupies 50%-80% of the compressed radius and reduces
the capsule pr for a given compression.
Yield from LASNEX calculations scales somewhat more
rapidly with energy and more closely follows
or
Gain-37517 ,?,~h,E~;;,, (100)
where aohl is the coupling efficiency between the laser and
the capsule. The two dashed lines labeled 10% and 15% in
Fig. 7 use s&r= 10% and 15%, which bracket the current
NIF target designs. Issues that affect hohlraum coupling ef-
ficiency are discussed in Sec. VIII. Equation (100) holds
when the capsule at each energy is imploded to a velocity
equal to the minimum required to ignite for a given surface
finish. This will require a minimum intensity or drive tem-
perature at each energy, as given by Eq. (87). At any given
energy, it will be possible to meet or exceed the minimum
ignition velocity for all intensities or drive temperature
above this minimum. For any given implosion velocity, it is
possible to calculate capsule gain versus driver energy. Gain
curves for indirect drive at velocities of 3X lo7 and 4X lo7
cm/s are shown in Fig. 7. These curves are calculated under
the assumption of a fixed 15% hohlraum coupling efficiency
of laser energy to a capsule. The shaded band at the left of
each set of curves in Fig. 7 corresponds to the uncertainty in
the achievable capsule surface finish. The far left edge cor-
responds to the gain achievable for perfectly uniform implo-
sions. The right edge of the band corresponds to the gain for
targets with surface finishes of 500-1000 A RMS. As stated
earlier, the best current Nova capsules have surface finishes
of about 200-300 A RMS. As the capsule size (or driver
energy) increases, the minimum implosion velocity required
to ignite a capsule decreases. If we exceed the minimum
velocity at any given size, the capsules will still ignite, but
there is a performance penalty for operating above the mini-
mum velocity. The gain will drop because we will implode
less mass and get less yield for a given energy. The capsules
also tend to ignite earlier than optimal in the compression
process. This results in reduced pr and lower burn efficiency.
Hence, the optimum strategy implies operation at the mini-
mum implosion velocity consistent with the desired capsule
size and yield. This is the strategy that follows the scaling
given by Eq. (100).
VIII. HOHLRAUM COUPLING EFFICIENCY
Both the efficiency of coupling driver energy to a cap-
sule and the physics of hohlraum symmetry are largely de-
termined by the physics of x-ray absorption in the hohlraum
wall.
In the following analysis, the hohlraum wall is approxi-
mated by a planar surface exposed to a uniform temperature
of x rays, and a Lagrangian coordinate system is used for the
analysis. The two independent variables are time t and a
Lagrangian spatial coordinate m = Sp dx, which is the mass
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3969
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per unit area of material between the fluid particle and the
surface of the hohlraum wall. Conservation of mass and mo-
mentum are given by
dU dv
dt=dm (101)
and
dv dP
-z=dm (102)
where U(t,m) = l/p is the specific volume, v(t,m) is the
fluid velocity in the rest frame of the hohlraum wall, and
P(t,m) is the pressure. Conservation of energy relates the
heating T dS of a fluid particle (where T is temperature and
S represents specific entropy) to the thermal energy trans-
ported out of a fluid element by the energy flux F. Since
T dS=de+ P dU, where e(t,m) is the internal energy per
unit mass in the slab, the conservation of energy may be
expressed as
(103)
In this analysis, it is assumed that the opacity of the matter is
sufficiently high that, on the time scales of interest, matter
and radiation are in local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE).
More specifically, the radiation field is assumed to be nearly
isotropic and of the same characteristic temperature as the
matter. Although the x-ray production region, near the laser
critical density, violates this assumption and must be calcu-
lated using non-LTE (NLTE) models, the hohlraum wall loss,
which is at higher density and lower temperature, is near
LTE conditions. The dominant heat-transport mechanism is
radiation transport, and the matter is assumed to be suffi-
ciently opaque that the diffusion approximationt4’ can be
used:
(104)
where Ka is the Rosseland mean opacity and m is the
Stefan-Boltzmann constant.
Dimensional analysis of Eqs. (lOl)-( 104) provides use-
ful insight. Suppose that the source temperature, applied sud-
denly at I =O, is T, . Let ps = 1 /U, be the initial density of the
wall, and let P, and e, be the pressure and energy per unit
volume that the material would have if it were heated to the
full source temperature T, before it could expand to a higher
specific volume than II,.
Initially, the diffusion process described by Eqs. (103)
and (104) will heat the surface of the block so rapidly that
the slab material will remain stationary in comparison to the
penetration speed of the heat front. When there is no hydro-
dynamic motion, these equations lead to a heat front that
advances into the slab according to a diffusive law of the
form The inertia of the slab material allows the pressure P, to
cause disturbances in the slab, which propagate with a sound
(or shock) speed that can be estimated from Eqs. (101) and
(102):
Wt)front- Jp,p,. (106)
At early times, the penetration speed of the thermal wave
exceeds this hydrodynamic speed, but at later times, the hy-
drodynamic speed far exceeds the rate at which the heat
wave can penetrate the wall. The critical time scale t, at
which the hydrodynamic motion begins to affect the progress
of the heat front is easily estimated from the previous two
relationships:
(107)
The depth of the slab that has been heated at this “transition
time” t, is estimated by
m,=t,JP,p,. (10%
For times t4t,, it is safe to assume that p= l/U(t,m)=p,
everywhere in the slab, which eliminates the need to solve
the mass and momentum equations. (This is Marshak’s
“constant density” solution, which is equivalent to the clas-
sical nonlinear heat conduction problem.142)
When t % f, , something “in between” diffusion-wave
behavior and shock-wave behavior occurs. A competition ex-
ists between Eqs. (101) and (102), which produce distur-
bances that propagate at constant speed, and Eqs. (103) and
(104), which produce disturbances that diffusively decelerate
as they progress. For example, the pressure of the heated
material causes it to explode into the vacuum and decom-
press. If the opacity of the heated material decreases as the
density drops, more of the radiation emitted by the source
reaches the colder, deeper regions of the wall. Thus, the heat
front can progress somewhat more rapidly than the nz x dt
diffusive behavior, since the heated material becomes less
effective at insulating the underlying unheated material. An-
other effect occurs if the specific energy increases with de-
creasing density. This means that expanding the material at
constant temperature requires an energy input. This effect
counteracts the effect of a drop in opacity with density.
Rosen’43 obtained an approximate similarity solution to
Eqs. (lOi)-(104). The following analysis closely follows his
solution.
First, the energy Eq. (103) is simplified by the assump-
tion that, for slow subsonic radiation fronts, the pressure is
nearly constant near the heat front. We put P inside the time
derivative and deal with the enthalpy h =e + Plp. The en-
thalpy and Rosseland mean opacity K are then approximated
by power laws of density and temperature:
(109)
and
m2
t i 4&/3 K,
T se
es ’ (105)
front
3970 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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As an approximate solution to the dynamics in the blowoff
region, we set the density equal to that of an isothermal
expansion in the blowoff region:
m
P’C,t’ (111)
where the sound speed C, is given by
--?I2
77112 . (112)
From the definition of m, we see that the solution to Eq.
(111) is p=exp(-.rlC,t). With these assumptions, the en-
ergy equation has similarity solutions of the form
m= WtQ (113)
and
T(m,t)=To
( i ; ‘I(w), (114)
with f(W=O)=l and f(W=front)=O as boundary condi-
tions. Here To is the temperature at the heated surface when
t = to. The parameter W provides a new coordinate system in
which the temperature profile is time invariant. By a suitable
choice of Q, this enables us to reduce the nonlinear differ-
ential diffusion equation for heat transport to a linear differ-
ential equation. We obtain by substitution,
=wa=pt a D [PP+rtl-Q12+r)]~fa+Lz,
dW
where
D= 16erC;;p&TTf
and
r=Z(R- E).
We can eliminate the time dependence by choosing
Q= /3P+l+Z(R-e) PP+l+r
2+Z(R-E) = 2+r .
With this choice of Q, Eq. (115) becomes
; Cfp+lz)L s cf~+‘z)‘+QW(fz)
-(zpz+z~)p=o. (115)
016)
(117)
(llf9
Since 1%’ is related to the mass ablated from the surface, it
increases as we move through space toward the ablation
front. Near the ablation front, W will be large, R is always
small, and Z and I are less than unity, so that f’” is small. We expect the gradient (f”)’ to be large near the wavefront,
since the nonlinear radiation conductivity must result in a
steep-fronted wave. Hence, we neglect the second and fourth
terms of Eq. (118). Near W=O, we use, as a trial solution,
r / Tar \ al 110
f’w’=p-~+-) J 9 (119)
where a=l+RZ. Equation (118) becomes
1 D p+lZ CY
-F,,(~)~-‘+Qw][ j#-($-)a]zz’“]
= 0. (120)
Near the front, the second term cannot be zero, because the
gradient is steep. Hence, the first term must be zero. Also,
near the front, W= W,. Hence, W, is given by
wztr- 4cT 1 4 Tf
0 _---
3Ko ho QP “GP’T9
t0 wo
and the mass penetrated by the radiation wave is then
mo= wotQ,
Loss E,, -= - = (‘(h)dm= /;‘ho( ;) -‘T;( ;) Plf’(w)dm
Area A,,,
=hoC~zt~=(mo)l-'Z P;%= P
p+ 1z * uw
In carrying out the integral, we substituted for p/p0 from Eq.
(111) and set m =mo in the resulting term. Here E,, is the
energy into the hohlraum wall and A, is the hohlraum wall
area. If we do not set m=mo, the right-hand side of Eq.
(122) is multiplied by (llcu)Beta[( 1 ---z&a: (1 +Zz)/@J, where
Beta(x,y)-r(x)l?(y)lr(x+ y). Similar analytic solutions
have been obtained by Kaiser et ~1.‘~~ and by numerically
integrating the equation for W.*45
To obtain specific results for gold, we use
K,=6X 103Kop0.3T,,eV - l5 cm21g,
h=4.2X 106T,$vp-o.‘4 J/g,
c,=3.ox 106T$$-O? (123)
The Rosseland mean opacity is obtained from the super-
transition-array (STA) model’46 and K. is an overall multi-
plier on the opacity. Thus, e=O.14, R=0.3, Z=1.6, n=1.5,
Z=1.075, r=0.172, p=4.04, and Q=O.54+1.86P. If
these quantities are used, the energy absorbed by the hohl-
raum wall after a time 7 is approximated by
E,,(MJ)=5.2X 10-3K;o.3g(3.44P+ 1)-“.39
x ~:.3#.62+3.3P~ WV (124)
where To is the temperature at 1 ns. For a constant hohlraum
temperature T,, we have
E,,(MJ)=5.2X 10-3K,0.39~.3A,@62. (125)
For a constant loss rate k?,,IA,=S, , we must have
t-“.38t3.3P=t0. Hence 9 P=O.115 and
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3971
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(SA)15=F (MJ/cm2/ns)=4.5X 10-3Ti.3:.3/Kt.39,
w
(126)
where (SA)r5 is the absorbed flux in units of lOI W/cm’.
This form for the wall loss would be appropriate, for ex-
ample, for a constant-power laser pulse with a constant x-ray
conversion efficiency if we ignore laser entrance hole loss.
Using T= To?.‘15 and (S,),,=O.OlT4, we have T3.3
= 7’;.370.3s = 44.7(S&sz5, where SR is the flux at time 7
emitted from the hohlraum wall. Hence, we can write Eq.
(126) as follows:
(SR),5=7.0K~.47(SA)f;2’*(ns) . 0.46 (127)
From Eq. (127), we see that for time on the order of 1 ns and
fluxes of 1014-1015 W/cm2, typical of ICF hohlraums, the
reemitted flux from a hohlraum wall is large compared to the
absorbed flux.
The mass ablated from a hohlraum wall is approximated
by
mo(g/cm2)= 1.20X 10-3T’.86Kio.46
x(3.44P+ I)- 0.46T(0.54t1.86P) (128)
If we take P =O. 115, as required for a constant loss rate, then
the depth penetrated in micrometers, for gold, is given by
x(,um)= lo4 m(g/cm2)/p=0.53T~~86~~75. (12%
Thus, for time and temperature of interest to ICF, a few
micrometers of wall material are heated.
To obtain the approximate hohlraum coupling efficiency,
we write
vc.e.E~aser= Ew, + &a+ Eh , (130)
where xe. is the laser-to-x-ray conversion efficiency. The
LEH losses E, and capsule absorbed energy E,, are esti-
mated by
.??h= 10-2cA,~,
EC,= 10-‘cA,~.
The assumption made here is that the capsule absorbs all
of the flux incident on it. This assumption is approximately
valid for times of interest to ICF capsules for suitably chosen
low-Z ablators in spherical geometry. The more general case,
for which the capsule will reemit a small fraction of the
incident x-ray energy, is discussed below. The hohlraum wall
A, (cm’) and entrance hole A, (cm*) areas used are the
initial values. The capsule area A, (cm’) used is the initial
area of the inside of the fuel layer (or the inside of the ablator
if there is no fuel layer). This area is representative of the
effective area during the bulk of the energy absorption. Tem-
perature T, (heV) is peak temperature, and the time r (ns)
used is typically the total energy divided by the peak power.
For the case of constant hohlraum temperature, the ratio of
the capsule absorbed energy E,, to the energy delivered into
the hohlraum by the driver Elaser is then given by’47
4, 17c.e. -=
E laSer 1 +A,/A,+(A,/A,)(0.52/~~7~0.38) 17c.e. 77c.e. =
1 -l-ah+ 1.625a,,/N,= 1 +ah+a,/lCiW’ (13%
where a,,, and ah are the ratios of the wall or entrance hole
area to the capsule area, N, is the ratio of the wall reemis-
sion flux to the absorbed flux given by Eq. (127), and N, is
the ratio of the energy reemitted by the wall during the pulse
to the absorbed energy. Equation ( 132) also can be written in
terms of the albedo, which is the ratio of the wall emission to
the incident flux and is closely related to N, ,
E J7c.e.
<= 1+ah+1.625a,[(1-a)/@] E
77c.e.
= 1 +uh+u,[( l-6)/6]
where ctl is the albedo, given by (133)
SR 10-2P 1 Ly=-=
sR+sA lo-2P+B, = 1 +(0.32/@7ro*38)
and U is the average albedo over time 7; given by
cy= 10-2T4r 1
10-2pr+ E, = 1 +0.52/Te.7~o.38’ (134)
(135)
Because the wall albedo is near unity for ICF conditions, or
because the ratio of reemitted flux to absorbed flux is large,
the hohlraum wall area can be much greater than the capsule
and still maintain reasonable coupling efficiency.
In the more general case with finite capsule reemission
E,,, we can write’48
EC,+ EC,= ( 1 + NJ&,=$
w Ewr=: E,, ,
or
(136)
and
Eh=g E,,=( 1 +N,)ahEca,
w
where N, is the ratio of capsule reemission to capsule ab-
sorption and n= N,/( 1 + N,.) is the effective ratio of wall
reemission to absorption.
From Eqs. (130) and (136), we obtain
EC, %.e. -= E laser 1 +(%/n)+(l fN,)ah’ (137)
When the capsule reemits some fraction of the incident en-
ergy, it takes longer to absorb a given amount of absorbed
energy. Hence, there is more time-essentially by the ratio
(1 + N,)-for energy to be absorbed into the wall and to leak
out the LEHs.
3972 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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280
260
$ 240
2M
200
I IASNEX
Larer pulses
we,* -1 nr mg
I 180 I 1 I I t I I 1
0 10 20 30 40
PLWJ
FIG. 51. Drive from gold hohlraums is in accord with 2-D LASNFX simula-
tions.
For capsules that are designed to ignite, we can relate the
pulse length and temperature to the capsule energy by using
Eq. (87), with a margin of 2 for hydrodynamic instabilities,
and Eq. (91b). The hohlraum coupling efficiency from Eq.
(132) then becomes
EC, ‘17c.c.
g&= l+ah+(a,P0.‘4/8.5E~~‘3)’ (138)
The coupling efficiency depends primarily on x-ray conver-
sion efficiency, and the ratio of LEH and hohlraum wall area
to capsule area. The coupling efficiency depends only
weakly on capsule energy.
The LEHs must be made large enough to avoid signifi-
cant absorption and refraction of the laser energy as it enters
the hohlraum. The required size scales with the capsule size
because the capsule size determines the pulse length. For
hohlraums being investigated for ignition, the ratio of hole
area to capsule area varies from about 1 to 2. The ratio of
hohlraum wall area to capsule area is dictated primarily by
capsule symmetry requirements, as discussed in Sec. IX. For
ignition hohlraums, the ratio of case area to capsule area
varies from about 15 to 30. For this range of sizes for the
case and the entrance holes, Eq. (138) gives an overall cou-
pling efficiency that varies from about 10% to 20% if the
x-ray conversion efficiency is about 70%. Symmetry issues
that affect the choice of hohlraum size are discussed in Sec.
Ix.
Figure 51 shows the experimentally measured and cal-
culated hohlraum temperatures as functions of laser power
for a series of experiments on Nova.‘49 These experiments
used a hohlraum that was 1600 pm in diameter and 2550 pm
long with LEH diameters equal to half the diameter. This is a
standard scale-l Nova hohlraum. The data are from experi-
ments conducted over several years and are for constant-
power, 1 ns pulses. The temperatures plotted were obtained
from aluminum witness-plate measurements. Temperatures
were obtained from shock-velocity measurements similar to
those in the pulse-shaping discussion. These are incident flux
temperatures that are higher than temperatures that would be
inferred from looking through a hole in the hohlraum at wall
reemission away from the laser spots. The witness plate 250
200
s si
I--
150
100 /\ 2
9-I Tpeak t &‘5
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Time (ns)
FIG. 52. Radiation-temperature profile obtained from soft x-ray diode mea-
surements for a hohlraum driven by a 1 ns, constant-power laser pulse.
looks at both the hot laser source regions and the cooler
reemitting wall. The incident flux temperature, TI, can be
related to the reemission flux temperature, TR , from the defi-
nition of the albedo in Eq. (134):
T J&fW4 I (o*01)‘/4 =$=c( 1+ ;$F38)~”
T$’ -T,+O.O8 7. (139)
This correction is a weak function of the reemitted tempera-
ture. For 1 ns pulses, the source temperature is about 10 eV
higher than the re-emission temperature for most cases of
interest.
Equations (125) (130), and (131) can be used to calcu-
late the expected hohlraum temperatures for the Nova experi-
ments. The solid lines in Fig. 51 are for constant x-ray con-
version efficiencies, v~,~, of 60% and 70%. Also shown are
the results of detailed numerical calculations.
The experimentally measured hohlraum temperature
time history-shown in Fig. 52 for a typical 1 ns, constant-
power pulse in a gold hohlraum-implies an x-ray conver-
sion efficiency that increases with time during the pulse. If
we assume that
vc.e=0.70r(ns)0.12, (140)
and use this in Eq. (124), we obtain P=O.15 or T=Toto.“,
where To is the temperature at 1 ns. As shown in Fig. 52, this
gives a good fit to the measured hohlraum temperature-
versus-time profile. The temperature history in Fig. 52 is a
wall reemission temperature obtained by using the Dantet5’
x-ray diode array to measure x rays emitted from a diagnos-
tic hole. As shown in Fig. 53, detailed numerical calculations
also predict an x-ray conversion efficiency that increases
with time. Equation (140), which is consistent with the nu-
merical model results for a 1 ns pulse, is also plotted in Fig.
53.
The analysis used for Eq. (132) can be generalized for
hohlraums with more complex geometric structure.‘51 The
single temperature analysis of Eq. (132) applies to hohhaums
that have a single chamber containing all x-ray sources and
sinks. More complex multichambered geometries, such as
those shown in Fig. 54, frequently are used in ICF experi-
ments. In the two chambered geometries shown in Fig. 54,
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3973
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1.0 , , 1 , ) [ , , , -
Conversion efficiency inferred -
Oo I I I t , I I I
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.6 1.0
Time (ns) this case, the cap&e is in the sink chamber. The added heat
loss of the baffles plus the reduced x-ray transport result in a
lower temperature at the capsule.
In the hohlraum in Fig. 54(a), however, the capsule is in
the x-ray production chamber. Although the baffles absorb
energy, they also retard energy transport to the sink chamber,
which acts to increase the temperature of the production
chamber. This effect can more than compensate for the added
heat capacity of the baffles.
To be more quantitative in this case, we write the energy
balance equation for the production and sink regions as
vErp = Ewap + Eps + &a (141)
FIG. 53. The conversion efficiency 7 inferred from hohlraum simulations is
consistent with QJ derived from T, and wall loss measurements.
we define a production or primary chamber (p), and a sink or
secondary chamber (s). Although both chambers generally
can have both sources and sinks, the p chamber is defined to
be the chamber with the dominant source of energy, such that
net energy flow is from p to s so that s has the lower tem-
perature. Because the internal structure in these hohlraums
significantly retards radiation flow between chambers, it is
necessary to describe these more complex geometries with
two temperatures TP and T, .
Both hohlraums in Fig. 54 have more surface area, be-
cause of the internal baffles, than would an empty hohlraum
of the same size. Since the baffles absorb energy, one might
conclude that the capsule in both cases would see a lower
temperature. This is true for the hohlraum in Fig. 54(b). In
(b) P S P
FIG. 54. A multichambered hohlraum can be described as having a produc-
tion chamber (P) and a sink chamber (5). In (a) the capsuIe is in the x-ray
production chamber, where the light is absorbed. In (b) the capsule is in the
sink chamber, which is separated from the laser absorption and x-ray pro-
duction chamber by baffles. TEL, + E,, = Ewa, + Et, 7 (142)
where E,, and Eh are the capsule and LEH energies, respec-
tively, and are given by Eq. (13 I) for a constant temperature.
Here E,,, and Ewap are the sink and production wall ener-
gies, which are given by Eq. (125) for constant temperature
with T,= T, in the sink chamber and T,= Tp in the produc-
tion chamber. Here E,, is the energy transported from the
production chamber to the secondary and, for constant tem-
perature, is approximated by
Eps= 10-2A,,,(l;t-~),
where A,, is the area of the transport opening between the
production and sink chamber. The x-ray conversion effi-
ciency is given by v as before. Here E,, is the laser energy
deposited in the production chamber and E,, is the laser en-
ergy deposited in the sink chamber. If the radiation tempera-
ture is not constant, then the energy terms must be calculated
as integrals over the time history, as in the example below.
Hohhaums such as that shown in Fig. 54(a), which have
been referred to as “shimmed hohlraums,” have been fielded
on Nova as part of the hohlraum symmetry studies. Figure 78
in Sec. IX shows the results of such an experiment. Without
the shims, Nova hohlraums of this size, irradiated with 20 K.I
of light in a constant-power, 1 ns pulse, achieve peak drive
temperatures of about 230 eV. With the shims, the primary
chamber reaches a temperature of 240 eV, and the capsules
systematically have a yield that is about a factor of 2
higher. 152 The following solution to Eqs. (141) and (142)
below for this specific example reproduces this result.
The cylindrical hohlraum in Fig. 78 has a radius of 0.8
mm, a LEH 0.6 mm in radius, and a length of 2.3 mm. The
shims are 0.325 mm in radius and are placed on axis 0.65
mm from the hohlraum midplane. The capsule radius is
0.275 mm. Thus, the area of the primary walls (A,,), from
shim to shim along the hohlraum wall, including the shim
disk area, is 0.072 cm*, the area of the two secondary cham-
bers (A,) is 0.074 cm2, the capsule area (A,) is 0.0094 cm2,
and each LEH area (Ah) is 0.009 cm2. About 20% of the
laser energy (E,) is deposited along the cylinder wall be-
tween the axial position of the shim and the end of the hohl-
raum. The other 80% of the laser energy is Ep . We use
7,~=0.7, as discussed in Fig. 51.
3974 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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As discussed in Fig. 52, for a constant-power, 1 ns pulse,
the hohlraum temperature increases in time as
T=To(tlto)o~‘S, so that
E/,= lo-,,/ot[ q( ;)““I” dt
=6.25X lo-3A& ,$ .
i 1
In Eq. (144), T, is the temperature of the secondary region at
a time to=1 ns. Also, since the pulse is 1 ns long, the last
term is unity, and we have
E,,=6.25X 10-3A,,c. (145)
Similarly, we have
E,,=6.25X lo-“A& (146)
and
E,,=6.25x10-3A,,(~-~). (147)
The primary and secondary chamber wall losses, from Eq.
(124) with P=O.15, are given by
E ,vap=4.4X 10-“Ap?3p.3 =4.4X 10-3A,T;.3
(148)
and
E ,pas=4.4X 10-“A,T;.3. (149)
If we define T,/T,= y, we can write Eqs. (141) and (142) as
7E,,=4.4X 10-3A,T;~3+6.25X 10-3A,,<( 1 -y”>
and -t 6.25 x lo-“A,c
gEI,+6.25x10-3A,,(1-y4)
=4.4x 10-3A,~~3y3.3+6.25x 10-3A&y”.
By adding Eqs. (150) and (151), we obtain
.@I = T@Z~ + 4,)
=4.4x lo-“A,[1 +(A,/A,)y3.3]T;.3
+6.25x10-3A,[1+(A,/A,)y4]. (150)
(151)
(152)
Inserting the values of the areas and energies into Eqs. (151)
and (152) gives
140=3.2Tjp.3(1 +Y~.~)+O.~C( 1+ 1.9~~) (153)
and
28=2.14T;t(l-y4)=3.2T;-3y3~3+0.57~y4. (154)
Equations (153) and (154) can be solved iteratively to give
T,=242 eV and y=O.87 or T,=211 eV.
For simple geometry with no shims, we use Eq. (130):
17E1=4.4X 10-3A,T3.3+6.25X 10-3AhT4
+6.25x lo-“ACT? (155)
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 With the total hohlraum wall area A,=0.134 cm2 and Ah and
A, the same as above, we obtain
140=5.9T3*3+0.86T4 7
which yields the solution T=230 eV. (156)
These calculations show that, although the shims absorb
about 500 J of x rays, the primary chamber of the shimmed
hohlraum in Fig. 78 is expected to be about 10 eV hotter than
the unshimmed hohlraum, as seen experimentally and in
more detailed LASNEX hohlraums. This occurs because the
shine shield restricts radiation flow to the secondary cham-
bers, which are 30 eV colder than the primary chamber. Be-
cause of this effect, the tlux onto the capsule in the shimmed
hohlraum is increased by (242)4/(230)4=1.225. In other
words, the shimmed hohlraum is 22.5% more energy effi-
cient than is the unshimmed hohlraum. Although ignition
target designs (discussed in Sec. XIII) have not yet used such
shimmed hohlraums, they also, in principle, provide a means
of increasing the coupling efficiency to the capsule at this
scale.
Since the hohlraum temperature depends on both the
x-ray conversion efficiency and the hohlraum wall loss, we
need an independent measurement of the wall loss in order to
be confident of both elements of the hohlraum energetics
model. Two independent tests of the hohlraum wall loss have
been obtained in Nova experiments. In one technique,153 a
thin patch of gold is placed on the wall of the hohlraum. The
bumthrough time of soft x rays is a measure of the wall loss,
which scales approximately as (Ko)-o.47 from Eq. (128). A
second, less sensitive technique, uses a wedge of gold or a
series of gold steps of different thicknesses placed in the wall
of the hohlraum. The shock velocity generated in the gold is
approximately proportional to (Ko)-0.25. Both techniques
have been used on Nova.
Figure 55 shows the results of Nova experiments’54*‘55
using a thin gold patch that has 1, 2, and 3 pm thick sections
and an open hole. Emission through the open hole tracks the
laser pulse while emission from the gold patch is delayed.
The analytical results plotted in Fig. 55 use P=O.15, as dis-
cussed previously, in Eq. (128). The predicted burnthrough
rate is slightly greater than observed, corresponding to about
a 10 eV temperature difference. Also shown are the results of
detailed numerical simulations, which accurately match the
observed bumthrough rate.
Hohlraum temperatures have proven to be reproducible
at the major indirect-drive experimental facilities. Figure 56
is a plot of hohlraum temperature versus P,IA, for experi-
ments from GEKKO XII,” Phebus,” and Nova.‘49 Here P,
is the laser power. The line is T3.3 from the scaling in Eq.
(126).
The x-ray conversion efficiency in hohlraums for pulses
1 ns or longer is, in general, significantly greater than that
measured on flat high-Z disks in open geometry.‘56 Figure 57
shows the x-ray conversion efficiency for a flat disk mea-
sured on Nova for 1 ns pulses. For intensities of a few times
1014 W/cm’ to about 10” W/cm” (the intensities on the hohl-
raum wall for the data in Fig. 51), the x-ray conversion on
disks is clearly lower than for hohlraums and is more inten-
sity sensitive. On a gold-coated sphere illuminated with the
Review Article 3975
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Streaked XUV imager data at fw = 550 eV
Au patches
l hv=550eV
ohv=225eV
Numerical simulation
0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
Position - Au thickness (pm)
FIG. 55. The radiation-wave burnthrough measurements in thin gold foils agree well with numerical simulations and analytical models.
24 beams of the Omega laser, conversion efficiencies com-
parable to those in a hohlraum were obtained,‘57 as indicated
in Fig. 57. When only six beams from Omega were focused
onto a sphere, a conversion efficiency comparable to those
seen on Nova flat targets was obtained. These results in open
geometry are not well understood theoretically. Although the
results obtained in hohlraums are calculated accurately over
a fairly wide range of conditions, the inability to predict the
results accurately from open-geometry experiments is a con-
tinuation of the historical difficulty of calculating the condi-
tions in laser-irradiated, low-2 disks.15’
5001 I 1
400 - n A .O Nova
s 0 Phebus
s A GEKKOXII
includes no hole losses
1 I
10’ 102 103
pL(Ny) T1/2ns
A(cm)
FIG. 56. Submicrometer-laser-wavelength hohlraum drive experiments from
various facilities show general agreement.
3976 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article The soft x-ray emission region around a laser spot in a
hohlraum becomes significantly larger than the incident spot
during the laser pulse, as shown in Fig. 58. These data are
taken by cutting a slot in the hohlraum and imaging the soft
x-ray emission around a laser spot on the opposite wa11’59
with a soft x-ray framing camera (zSXRFC).‘~’ The SXRFC
can take four frames in each of three different x-ray energy
channels. Figure 58 shows the spot size measured at energies
of 450 and 1200 eV. The data shown are from three shots
with nominally the same conditions. A typical error bar on
the spot-size measurements is 20%-30%, based on uncer-
tainty in film calibration and the flat-field response of the
instrument. As shown in Fig. 58, postprocessed calculations
of the emission spot size in hohlraums are consistent with the
observed size increase. This increase in size is not seen for a
1 ns pulse in open geometry. Experimentally, the open-
geometry data are taken simultaneously with the hohhaum
data by focusing one of the laser beams on the outside of the
hohlraum. The brightnesses of the laser spot outside the
hohlraum and the hohlraum laser spot are roughly equal, so
that the increase in hohlraum x-ray conversion efficiency is
consistent with this increase in the x-ray emission region.
Experiments by Sigel et al. “’ at 300 ps did not show
this increase in conversion efficiency relative to disk mea-
surements. Figure 59 shows the reemitted flux from their
spherical cavity experiments (obtained from x-ray emission
through a diagnostic hole) versus the source flux (based on
disk measurements) in the hohlraum. The theoretically pre-
dicted reemitted flux, as shown, is consistent with the disk
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a) -2 1
k
ZO.8
f
‘zi
g 0.6
z
0
ii 0.4
a
s a 0.2
2 0 I I I I I $ ‘CA 80
ifi .g 70
a,lu
s-3 60
-0 $ cs
ZT 40 50
ob 30
o-
m 20
$ 10 I Nova (Au disks)
LLWLANL spheres
(24 beams on Omega)
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 0.5 1.5 2.5 3.5
= (W z (ns)
(0.65 ns) LLWLANL
sks (1.0 ns) (I&J $5 keV)
Nova Au disks (hv <3 keV)
10’3 10’4 10’5 10’6
incident laser intensity (I)
FIG. 57. IFme-resolved and time-integrated x-ray measurements from open-geometry experiments show an increase in x-ray conversion efficiency with
increasing laser pulsewidth and a decrease with increasing intensity.
conversion efficiency and not with a much higher efficiency.
The equivalent Nova experiments have not been done.
It is difficult to obtain drive measurements to an absolute
accuracy better than about 10 eV or 15%-20% in x-ray tlux.
700
g (b) 600
2, 500 400
E 300
2 E 200
z 100 i Data from three shots
’ 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Time (ns)
FIG. 58. Data and postprocessed calculations (circled L) indicate that x-ray
source size in hohlraums increases with time: (a) spot size at 452 eV, (b)
spot size at 1200 eV.
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 First, the x-ray diodes of the Dante system are calibrated
only to an accuracy of about 20%, and the Dante measure-
ments are subject to diagnostic hole closure, which is diffi-
cult to fully account for. Also, because of the current place-
ment technique in the hohlraum wall, there are geometric
shadowing effects on the witness plate, which can reduce the
apparent temperature.
Source flux S, (erglcm2s)
FIG. 59. Experiments at Garching with low energy and short pulses do not
see significant enhancement of x-ray production in hohlraums compared to
open-geometry measurements.
Review Article
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gases showed that, except for a time delay compared to pure
gold, the x-ray hot-spot image size and the contrast ratio of
*bmllc ‘RctlD” Ar the hot spot to the background wall depended only we&y
on hohlraum fill.‘65 Hence, the potential effects of self-
generated magnetic fields on the laser spot are not readily
evident in Nova experiments. However, it is valuable to es-
timate the potential importance of magnetic fields for NIF
targets.
109
2-D LASNEX neutron yield In LASNEX calculations, it is possible to include the ef-
fects of magnetic fields by including the Braginskii transport
coefficients’66-‘68 and the magnetic induction equation. The
equation for the magnetic field B used in LASNEX is given
FIG. 60. Experimental yields for pulse-shaped implosions are one-half to
one-third those predicted by current 2-D LASNEX calculations. by’6;=vx,“xB+-$ (VPe-$L?j,, (157)
Because capsule yields are sensitive to the drive, they
provide additional data for evaluating drive. Figure 60 com-
pares the measured to calculated yields for the ps22 symme-
try experiments discussed in Sec. IX and the ps26 implosion
experiments shown in Fig. 47. The observed yields are about
a factor of 2 lower than calculated, which is consistent with
about a 10 eV lower temperature’62 or to 15%-20% lower
flux if the discrepancy is entirely the result of reduced drive.
The calculations were integrated, two-dimensional (2-D)
hohlraum calculations that included the capsule, so the ef-
fects of flux asymmetry discussed in Sec. IX are included.
Detailed mix calculations do not predict any significant yield
reductions from hydrodynamic instabilities for these experi-
ments, but it is possible that the yield reduction is coming
from some effect other than drive. For example, Nova, with
only five beams in each ring of beams, has a five-fold azi-
muthal asymmetry, which is a three-dimensional (3-D) ef-
fect, and cannot be included in 2-D calculations. Also, re-
sidual random pointing and power variations between beams
result in 3-D perturbations, which are not calculated.
ICF3D, ‘63 a new code currently being developed for ICF ap-
plications, will be able to address issues such as these in
three dimensions. Experiments are currently being conducted
to better quantify the drive.
Most current calculations do not include the effects of
self-generated magnetic fields. Although energy transport in
hohlraums is dominated by radiation, magnetic field effects
in the vicinity of the laser absorption could affect x-ray pro-
duction. The importance of self-generated magnetic fields in
hohlraum plasmas is complex both theoretically and experi-
mentally. Theoretically, simple scaling arguments can pro-
duce fields on the order of a megagauss (MG). Megagauss
fields have been observed in open-geometry experiments.‘@
However, magnetic fields are affected by several source and
loss terms of comparable importance, which vary differently
in different parts of the plasmas. Consequently, it is not clear
from scaling arguments alone where these fields are in rela-
tion to the regions of large heat flux or radiation generation.
The emission spot-size data and calculations in Fig. 58
for pure gold hohlraums on Nova show agreement without
including magnetic fields. In symmetry experiments dis-
cussed in Sec. IX, using hohlraums filled with a variety of R= -$ (c~,J,+a~JXb)+p, V,T,+/3/\bxVT,.
r
(159)
If we just consider the V X (1In)VP source term, we have
aB( MG)
dt( ns) = 10e4 h Vn,xVT, (keV), (160)
with distance in cm. For nanosecond time scales and gradi-
ents typical of ICE targets, megagauss fields are obtained.
The cross-field electron conduction coefficient KL is given
by 166-169
ntT,Tci Ki=-.--- y;x2+ Y;,
m, x4+S1x2+S0' (161)
where n, is the electron density and m, is the electron mass
and x=a~~~. The 6s and ys depend on z. The electron
cyclotron frequency a= 1.76X 10’3Z3(MG), and the
electron-ion collision frequency rci= ( 1.09 X 1 O- ’ *)Tz”/
[z In h(n,l102’)], so that
312
x=fi7ri= 1.92X 102 B(MG)Te (keV)
2 In h(n,/102’) ’ (162)
In the limit of xz> 1, the transport from Eq. (161) is reduced
by a factor
K,op 1) r;RY(po) I
K(X=O) = (flTei12 w(oT7,i)2* (1631
One way to estimate the importance of magnetic field effects
on NIF relative to Nova targets is to examine how the terms
in the magnetic field generation equation scale. Since the
NIF target has nearly the same plasma densities, tempera-
tures, and fluid velocities as discussed in Sec. XI, the scaling
of the terms in the induction equation (157) is given by
VX( l/n)VP=(l/pt)Vn xVT source term - i/scale2, VXJ
diffusion term - 1 /scale2, @-nonlinear functions of B,
VX B convection term -l/scale, JX B Hall term -l/scale2,
and VT terms -l/scale’.
The source terms and dissipation terms have neatly the
same l/scale2 dependence. The time available for the mag-
3978 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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netic fields to develop is proportional to scale. If the gradient
scale for the magnetic fields is proportional to the hohlraum
scale, one would expect NIF to have smaller magnetic fields
than Nova targets. However, in some regions of the hohl-
raum, the gradient scale depends only weakly on the hohl-
raum size.
As a quantitative test of the importance of magnetic
fields on NIF targets, we have included the magnetic field
equation in a detailed LASNEX NIF hohlraum calculation’70
for the baseline PT target described in Sec. XIII. This calcu-
lation was run for the duration of the high-power part of the
NIF pulse. Throughout the pulse in this calculation, 61r,,<l
in the region of heat flow and radiation generation. Magnetic
fields had less than a 5% effect on the energy delivered to the
capsule. There are regions in the hohlraum with fl~7,,>1,
although not in places where electron heat flow to the hohl-
raums walls is significant.
These results are obviously quite preliminary. However,
there is no evidence that magnetic fields cause significant
transport effects on Nova or will cause major problems on
NIF. Even if magnetic fields became large enough to affect
the size of the hot spot or the x-ray production region, they
would not affect radiation transport significantly. As dis-
cussed in Sec. IX, the radiation distribution in a hohlraum is
quite insensitive to the laser spot size, as Iong as its centroid
is well defined.
IX. HOHLRAUM RADIATION UNIFORMITY
The optimal choice for the ratio of hohlraum case area to
capsule area is strongly affected by the need to achieve a
very high degree of flux uniformity on the capsule. From Eq.
(2), we have, approximately,
SV 6R 1 r 3 61
v “R<-j-R--T-p 064)
where the intensity dependence comes from the rocket equa-
tion, Eq. (53), for a radiation-driven rocket. Since
2&R ,,#-<40 is typical, we require energy fluxes to the
capsule that are uniform to about 1%. The tolerable degree of
asymmetry depends on the ignition margin available. For the
NIF ignition capsules, we have allowed a factor of 2 in im-
plosion energy to account for the degradation expected from
both asymmetry and mix. For asymmetry alone, these cap-
sules will ignite with an imploded fuel that has SR>r/2.
However, in order to tolerate both the effects of hydrody-
namic instability and mix, we specify 6R<r14.
If the case radius is large compared to the capsule radius,
hohlraums are very effective at smoothing all but the
longest-wavelength perturbations. Analytical results can
readily be obtained for the example of a spherical capsule of
radius R,, inside a spherical case of radius R,, .171p172 If a
Legendre polynomial perturbation of order 1 is applied on the
inside of the case, the resultant perturbation on the capsule is
as shown in Fig. 61. If the case radius is about four times the
capsule radius, all modes but the P, component are
smoothed by about two orders of magnitude. When
RwdllRcap=5, P, passes through zero. If a capsule is chosen
so that it passes through this value as it implodes, very small lo outer oph’em LJ%P..b
FIG. 6 1. Hohlraums with Rwti/Rcapsule from about 3-S effectively smooth
all but the P, Legendre polynomial Hux variations.
average levels of P, can be achieved. The’reason for smooth-
ing short-wavelength modes is easy to understand. If we as-
sume that the channel is thin to radiation transport, then any
point on the surface of the capsule averages flux from a large
fraction of the hohlraum solid angle. In this process, all high-
spatial-frequency modes are averaged out. In practice, a de-
sire to maximize hohlraum coupling efficiency often results
in Rwd/Rcap<4, at least at early times. Therefore, both P,
and P, can be issues. For nonspherical hohlraums, the situ-
ation is somewhat more complicated because coupling be-
tween modes173 occurs for finite-size capsules. If a pure P2 is
applied to the case, P, and all higher modes appear at the
capsule. This occurs because different points on the capsule
see different solid angles and hence have different smoothing
factors. This changes the shape of the perturbation, which is
equivaIent to adding harmonics of the applied mode. Figure
62 shows the coupling’74 between P, and P, for a cylindrical
hohlraum that has a length-to-diameter ratio of 1.75, typical
of laser-driven hohh-aums on Nova or an ignition experi-
ment. Figure 62(a) shows the P, and P4 at the capsule for a
Pz( P4) applied at the case. The principal effect of this cou-
pling is to slightly shift the optimal pointing location for
capsule symmetry in the discussion below.
In Fig. 6 1, all odd harmonics have been ignored because
of an assumed left-right symmetry to the hohlraum. This
imposes a power balance and pointing accuracy specification
on the laser. (In Sec. XIII, Figs. 116 and 117 show the RMS
flux asymmetry in all modes as a function of power balance
and pointing accuracy for the NIF ignition targets.)
The long-wavelength P2 component must be smoothed
by choosing either the appropriate hohlraum geometry or
laser geometry. With N rings of beams, it is possible’75 to
exactly eliminate all the Legendre moments with 1 Cl <2N
- 1. If the number of beams in each ring is equal to 2N- 1
or more, then the spherical harmonic modes Yy with
m <2N- 1 are eliminated as well. In a hohlraum with no
holes, the rings must be placed at the zeros of the Legendre
polynomial of order N. The beams in each ring must be
uniformly spaced around the ring, and the intensities of the
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3979
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P2 applied lo hohlraum (Is 1.7 r,,,,,,,-,) P, applied to hohlraum (I= 1.7 r,,ohl,aum)
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
'csp 'up %ohhum ~h.hl"U"
FIG. 62. Coupling occurs between Legendre polynomial spatial harmonic
modes in nonspherical hohlraums.
rings must be proportional to the Gaussian quadrature weight
for that angle.
Holes in a hohlraum wall can be treated as a negative
source, and a very similar analysis applies. For example, if
the hohlraum wall is heated and the laser beams are suddenly
turned off so that no flux comes from the beams, then a
significant negative P,IP, occurs because of the holes. For a
typical laser hohlraum, holes covers about 5% of the solid
angle, and P,IPo= -0.227 from the holes. To balance this
asymmetry,the centroid of the laser emission must move to-
ward the LEHs. Because the hohlraum wall has a time-
varying albedo and because of plasma blowoff from the
hohlraum wall, which changes the angular position of the
laser beams relative to the capsule, symmetry in hohlraums
also is time varying.
Because the interior of an ICF hohlraum is initially
empty or filled with a low-density, optically thin gas and
remains largely optically thin during the laser pulse, the dif-
fusion approximation used for losses into the hohlraum wall
in Sec. VIII does not apply to transport within a hohlraum.
When blowoff from the hohlraum wall is important in
determining the spatial distribution of sources and sinks of
x-ray energy in the hohlraum, or when material in the hohl-
raum approaches an optical depth, the coupled hydrodynam-
ics and radiation transfer equations’76 must be solved. Sev-
eral models-including Monte Carlo, P,, and S-have
been developed to solve the radiative transfer equation The
Monte Carlo probabilistic methods, which have been consid-
ered as the main reference for comparing other approxima-
tions, were first applied by Fleck.‘77 The spherical harmonic
method, or P,, methodr7* is based on the expansion of the
specific intensity into spherical harmonics. When only the
first two terms of the expansion are used, the Eddington or
diffusion approximation is obtained. The discrete ordinates,
OrSNt method’79 solves the transport equation for a series of
specific angles.
If blowoff is unimportant, a “view factor”
calculation’80.‘s’ can be used. This approximation assumes 9 Laser 43 ,’ source
A’ ring
A./
,I’
/’ 43 ---_-------- w-4; T- Laser
HUH ____ _____ entrance
1 ““‘7@(LEMI*
t Hohlraum wall
kv, R,
FIG. 63. A simplified spherical hohlraum is used to analyze hohlraum sym-
metry.
vacuum radiation transport between the surface coupled to a
wall loss model, such as Eq. (124).
However, significant insight can be obtained from an
even simpler analytical model that can be used to estimate
the required location of the laser spots at various times, as
well as the sensitivity of the symmetry to deviations from the
optimal position.‘82 The hohlraum is assumed to be spheri-
cal, although the analysis also can be done for cylinders.‘83
For purposes of this discussion&he effect of the capsule on
hohlraum symmetry is small and is ignored. Although the
model is readily generalized, we also assume for most of the
analysis that there is a single LEH and a single ring of laser
beams on each side of the hohlraum, as shown in Fig. 63,
The laser-beam ring is located at an angular location B rela-
tive to the capsule axis. The position or relative powers for
multiple rings would be chosen so that their power-weighted
P, is the same as that for a single ring. The flux at any point
on a capsule comes from both the laser-heated region and the
x-ray-heated wall. Only the flux from the laser-ilIummated
region is sensitive to the pointing accuracy of the laser. The
flux from the x-ray-heated wall is essentially independent of
exactly where the Iaser hits the wal1. As the wall albedo
increases, so does the ratio of the pointing-insensitive flux
from the x-ray-heated wall to that from the laser-heated re-
gions.
We define I, to be the x-ray source intensity provided by
the laser, and the blackbody emission from the wall to be
I,= 10m2fl, where T, is in units of IO2 eV, as before, and
I,, which is in units of lOI5 W/cm2, is assumed to be uni-
form throughout the hohlraum. Although this assumption is
not strictly valid, the variations within the hohlraum are rela-
tively small for typical laser-driven hohlraums. The laser
spot intensity is the excess brightness of the wall directly
heated by the laser. The excess flux from the laser spots must
supply the energy lost to the hohlraum wall, LEHs, and cap-
sule. To lowest order, this flux is independent of the size or
solid angle of the laser sources, but I, clearly depends on the
size of the laser spots. A smaller spot must be more intense in
order to produce the required energy. The ratio of the laser
spot intensity to the wall intensity depends on the wall al-
bedo and the sizes of the LEHs and the laser spot. If we
ignore the capsule, we have
3980 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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where A, and A, are the areas of the laser spots and LEHs.
The hohlraum wall loss for gold, E,, is given by Eq.
(124), and the flux into the wall for constant temperature is
dE,v C.3A,
-=&,=3.2X 1O-3 Po.3sK,, 3g, dt Ok (165)
where E, is in MJ, and A, and 7 are in cm2 and ns as before.
The ratio of the laser x-ray intensity to the wall radiation
intensity is then
1, 4, -=-
Z w A, 066)
For a sphere, the ratio of the areas is the same as the ratio of
the solid angles, so we can also write
(167)
where C&, , s1,, and C& are the fractional solid angles of the
wall, LEHs, and laser source regions. The ratio of the total
power from the wall to that from the laser spots, F, is given
by
4&W
i 1
F=x= i [(l-CY)/ck!]+(~~ln,) ’ W-38)
It is F that will determine the optimal pointing angle and the
relaxation of the pointing requirements in a hohlraum. Add-
ing a capsule to the analysis has the effect of adding a term
C&,/fiw to the denominator, where C&, is the solid angle of
the capsule as seen from a point on the wall.
At t=O, the ratio of the wall emission to the laser spot
emission is zero. But the total wall emission rapidly comes to
dominate the emission from the laser spots. For example, for
the ignition design, the drive temperature is about 300 eV,
while most of the energy is being delivered,, and the pulse
width is about 3 ns. The drive temperature is about 100 eV
during the foot, a duration of about 10 ns. Figure 64(a) is a
plot of F versus time at 100 and 300 eV for a case with
LEHs that cover 5% of the total solid angle. Even at 100 eV,
the total flux from the wall exceeds that from the laser spot
in less than 100 ps.
During an interval of a few hundred picoseconds, while
the albedo and optimal pointing position are changing rap-
idly, the flux symmetry in hohlraums can vary greatly with
time, but ignition capsules can tolerate a high degree of
asymmetry for times this short (see Fig. 115 and the discus-
sion in Sec. XIII for the baseline NIF ignition hohlraum).
In the case of a single ring of laser irradiation on each
end of the hohkaum, the laser emission region will balance
the P, from the hole if we have
Z,(x)Pz(x)dx=O, (169)
where x=cos 0. Assuming that the emission from the laser
sources is uniform and that loss from the LEH is uniform,
Eq. (169) is approximately equivalent to 1oor ’ I rlclllt , ( !I,,,
1 o-1 100 IO’
T (ns)
55
F
FIG. 64. (a) The hohlraum smoothing factor F versus pulse length. Here F
is the ratio of the x-ray flux from the hohlraum wall to the flux from the
laser hot spots. (b) The required laser source angular location a to zero P2
versus hohlraum smoothing parameter F. As the hohlraum wall flux in-
creases, the laser spot must be closer to the laser entrance hole (LEH) to
compensate for the deficit in flux from the LEH.
This expression is accurate to terms of order R3/4 in the
fraction_al solid angles of the laser sources and LEHs. In Eq.
(170), X is the average value of cos 0 for the LEH or the
laser source location. Using the expression for F from Eq.
(168), we have
- QH
P~W,A=P~(XH) K F
[(I-(y)/a]+(nH/&) (171)
The effect of the capsule could be included by adding an-
other term, f12,/f&,,, to the denominator in F, as discussed
earlier. Figure 64(b) plots the required location of the center
of emission for the two-ring case as a function of F for holes
that cover 5% of the solid angle. This angle is measured
relative to the center of the capsule, so 0’ is the axis of the
hohlraum. Only the angle of one of the two rings is given.
The other ring is located symmetrically on the other end of
the hohlraum. If the holes were smaller, the required shift in
angle would be less. One effect that is apparent from Figs.
64(a) and 64(b) is that a rapid change in hohhaum tempera-
ture results in a rapid shift in the optimal pointing angle (or
power balance for multiple rings). This occurs because there
is a drop in albedo, or F, which accompanies a rapid tem-
perature change. For example, as seen in Fig. 64(a), it would
take 600 ps at 300 eV to reach the albedo, or value of F, that
was achieved after 10 ns at 100 eV.
Equation (17 1) can be generalized to more rings of laser
sources and to higher-order perturbation& With two rings per
side, we can generalize F to be
(172)
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3981
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The condition for balancing P, is then given by
P2(Xs,)E+P2(Xs*)(1-~)=P*(XH) $+=h,, w
(173)
where E and 1 -E are the fractional powers in each ring. With
two rings per side, the power in each ring can be varied in
time so that the location of the centroid of emission is always
at the angular location required to eliminate the P, flux
variation. If the initial ring positions are at the zeros in P,, at
8=39.23” and 90” relative to the capsule center, then P, as
well as P, can be zeroed at time zero. For these locations,
the expression for E is given by
- QH 0.4-P,(x,) n, F (174)
At time zero, the relative powers in the beams must be the
Gaussian quadrature weights. To satisfy this requirement, the
ratio of the power in the inner ring from each side to that in
the outer ring on each side is 0.8 at t=O. Then, P, is con-
trolled by changing E and can be zerod as long as the re-
quired emission location does not move to a lower angle than
the location of the outer ring.
The time-varying albedo discussed previously causes a
time variation in the optimal pointing angle for the laser
beams-or a time variation in capsule flux symmetry-for a
fixed pointing angle. Plasma blowoff from the hohlraum wall
has the effect of changing the source angle in time, relative
to the capsule, for a fixed pointing direction. As plasma
blows off the wall, the laser absorption and x-ray emission
also move off the wall. This has the effect of moving the
angle of the laser source relative to the capsule back toward
the LEH. Although the position of the critical surface never
moves very far from the original hohlraum wall, the absorp-
tion position can move far from the original wall. Inverse
bremsstrahlung is very efficient at absorbing the laser light in
high-2 material, even at densities well below the critical den-
sity. The inverse bremsstrahlung absorption length is given
approximately bylg4
h I.B.km) = 0.56X2T~‘2(keV)
(nln,)2z In A ’ (175)
where h is the laser wavelength in micrometers. In gold or
other high-Z hohlraum wall material, the absorption length is
less than 0.1 cm for nln,=O.l at a temperature of 4 keV,
which is typical for the laser propagation channel, as dis-
cussed below. This is comparable to the scale of a Nova
hohlraum, but only about $ the scale of an ignition-scale
hohlraum. Absorption lengths in gold near nln,=i seldom
exceed - 100 pm for a laser with X=0.35 ,um.
For both the NIF hohlraum and the Nova experiments
described above, the density along much of the laser propa-
gation path has nln,=O. 1, and the electron temperature
T,=3-5 keV. In both cases, the laser intensity Z-l-2X lOI
W/cm’. For Nova-scale hohlraums, the laser is able to propa-
gate through this plasma, even in gold, and most of the laser
light is absorbed fairly close to the wall in higher-density,
lower-temperature gold near n/n,=& In NIF-scale hohl-
raums, which are about four times the size of those on Nova, Hohlraum with fnftlal low-Zgas flfl or tow.2 liner
FIG. 65. Ignition-scale hohlraums use low-2 liners or gas fill to eliminate
excessive wall spot motion.
inverse bremsstrahlung in gold at nln,=O.I is large enough
that the Iaser absorption and x-ray emission region move-
ment from the original wall makes it very difficult to main-
tain radiation symmetry.
The fix for this effect, recognized in 1978 at LLNL,lg5 is
to displace the high-density gold blowoff with lower-density
material. Two approaches to this have been tried: (1) a low-Z
liner on the gold, which blows off to fill the hohlraum inte-
rior with low Z’“6,‘87 and (2) an initial gas fill of the
hohlraum. t85.187.188
The effect of such low-Z material is indicated schemati-
cally in Fig. 65. With an all-gold hohlraum, the location of
the emission region moves below the 40” minimum angle
required to balance the negative P2 from the hole, so it
would not be possible to achieve symmetry at a late time.
With either a low-Z liner or gas fill, the motion of the emis-
sion location off the initial hohlraum wall is limited to an
acceptable degree. Neither of these approaches stop the high-
density gold blowoff, but they displace the low-density gold
blowoff (below a density of nln,==O.l on NIF targee de-
signs), so the laser beam can propagate close to the initial
wall position on NIF targets. As in Nova targets, most of the
absorption then occurs in a thin gold layer near n/n,= i.
Low Z has little effect on Nova targets because the beam
already could propagate to a position near the wall. Initial
NIF target designs18’ and Nova experiments to test these
designs used a low-Z liner that was viewed as a simpler
fabrication approach. As expected from calculations, the
Nova experiments with a liner showed the same asymmetry
versus pointing as an unlined gold hohlraum with the same
pulse length. ‘89 The principa1 purpose of the Nova experi-
ments was to see if any adverse plasma coupling effects
would be seen when the laser propagated through the low-2
plasma rather than a gold plasma.
However, detailed modeling of the NIF targets showed
that the NIF capsule symmetry was adversely affected by a
hydrodynamic pressure pulse, which was generated by stag-
nation of the liner blowoff on the axis of the hohlraum. Our
code, LASNEX, is cylindrically symmetric and may exagger-
ate this stagnation. Hohlraums also could be designed to pre-
vent a focused axial stagnation. This or other hohlraum
modifications may result in a target with a liner that can
provide a low-Z fill in NIF hohlraums.
Because a gas-filled hohlraum, the original approach
used in the 1978 calculations,‘@ does not have this stagna-
tion problem, it was adopted as the NIF baseline design. This
approach also was evaluated in 1988 for the proposed Laser
Microfusion Facility (LMF) targets.‘**
3982 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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Capsules being designed for ignition can tolerate some
time variation in symmetry without performance degrada-
tion, but the magnitude of the symmetry swings must be kept
below a maximum that depends on the temporal history of
the time variations. Without introducing initial spatial varia-
tions in composition or thickness, capsules with a time-
varying P2 cannot be corrected simultaneously in velocity
and position. Azimuthal variations in radial velocity intro-
duce azimuthal pressure variations, which generate azi-
muthal mass flow. For small-amplitude or short-duration in-
tensity variations, these effects are largely reversible if the
sign of the flux variations is reversed to give a uniform time-
averaged flux. However, after an azimuthal flux variation
that persists for a substantial fraction of the pulse, subse-
quent reversal of the flux nonuniformity will not entirely
remove the effects of the earlier asymmetry. If the effect of
the P2 is tuned so that the capsule is spherical at ignition,
then velocity and density generally will vary from pole to
waist. If the capsule is tuned to minimize velocity and den-
sity variations at ignition, then the implosion will be asym-
metric. As discussed in the Introduction, an asymmetric im-
plosion converts less of the available kinetic energy into
internal energy, resulting in lower peak pressure and a higher
ignition threshold.
The effect of time-dependent, long-wavelength asymme-
try was examined in 1988 for the proposed LMF capsules.
This work prompted us in 1988 to propose a system (for the
LMF and later for the NIF) with two cones of beams on each
side in order to ensure control of time-dependent P, asym-
metry. Work on NIF ignition capsule implosions was initi-
ated in 1990, when the NIF was proposed, and continues
today. Excessive time-dependent asymmetry can cause jet-
ting of material in the radial direction. Such jetting was seen
in 1990 NIE target calculations, in which a single cone of
beams per side was used instead of two. In this case, the
time-varying P, and P4 asymmetry are bad enough to cause
capsule failure. The early-time, positive asymmetry drives
material to the waist, and then, upon deceleration, this mate-
rial falls as a curtain on the waist plane, quenching
ignition. igo This issue is discussed in more detail in Sec.
XIII.
There are several possible techniques for controlling
time-dependent symmetry. For example, a slot could be cut
in the waist of the hohhaum to exactly balance the P, effect
of the hole. The optimum location of the beam spots is then
independent of time. This strategy would cost about 20%-
30% in energy. The same effect also could be accomplished
by reducing the albedo over a somewhat larger area near the
waist of the hohlraum. Alternately, one could put a high-2
disk in the hohhaum between the capsule and the entrance
hole. In the limit that this disk has the same albedo as the rest
of the hohlraum and shields the entire capsule from the hole,
this eliminates P, caused by the LEH and again gives a
time-independent solution to the optimal beam location.
However, neither of these approaches, by itself, eliminates
the effect of the time-dependent location of the emission re-
gion. Other approaches-such as layered hohlraum
walls-to provide a space- and time-varying albedo are pos-
sible, and additional internal structure can be added to elimi- interior filled with
FIG. 66. To provide the required capsule flux uniformity, the NF will use a
large number of beamlets arrayed in,two concentric cones on each side of
the hohlraum.
nate P4, if necessary, to optimize hohlraum coupling
efficiency.‘s’
As shown schematically in Fig. 66, for the NIF laser,
which has 192 beams in 48 clusters of 4, we intend to control
the time-varying flux symmetry by using two rings per side
in the hohlraum and by varying the power ratio between the
two rings.‘g* This approach has been called “beam phasing.”
The current baseline hohlraum design uses a 0.8 mg/cm3
He/Ha gas fill to minimize the motion of the laser spot and to
minimize laser absorption in the propagation path of the la-
ser. This design is discussed in more detail in Sec. XIII.
To estimate the magnitude of the asymmetry at the hohl-
raum wall, which would occur from a pointing error,
(PdPOLll can be written as
5rP2(Xs)-P2(XH)(~;1H/~Zw)Fl
l+F (176)
The error introduced by deviations from the optimal angle
are reduced by the factor 1 +F, compared to those that would
occur at t=O (F=O) or with no hohlraum. For the two-ring
example used here, at F =O, P,IPo= 1% for a pointing error
S1$~=0.08~. For the case of two rings per side, the required
pointing angle of the centroid of emission is obtained by
varying the ratio of power in the two rings so that a pointing
error corresponds to a power imbalance between the two
rings.
For the NIF ignition capsule design (see Fig. 107 in Sec.
XIII), the time integral of P21Po must be reduced below
about 1%. Because most of the energy is delivered while
1 + F= IO, this corresponds to about a 1” placement error in
the average position of the rings. For the NIF hohlraum (see
Fig. 106 in Sec. XIII), a 1” ring placement error corresponds
to about a 100 ,um movement of the ring along the wall at
the initial radius for a ring at 50” relative to the capsule.
Since many beams will make up the laser rings, the pointing
accuracy for individual beams is further relaxed from the
average aiming accuracy by a factor of 2 or more, depending
on how the pulse shaping is carried out. {Detailed calcula-
tions for the NIF ignition targets are discussed in Sec. XIII.)
The symmetry for an ignition capsule would be iterated
by a variety of techniques, such as imaging the shape of a
shock front propagating through a foam ball, as described
below, or symmetry capsules specially designed to sample
flux uniformity during varying fractions of the ignition-
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3983
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3-&m-thick-tungstsn hohl!%xim
Ten-beam lrradlatlon
Laser energy -18 kJ (total)
Wavelength = 0.35 pm
Pulse length q I ns (FWHM)
FIG. 67. X-ray imaging of thin-wall hohlraums shows high absorption and little spot motion or beam spreading for 1 ns pulses (1986 Nova data): (a) relative
beam pointing for a scale- 1 .O hohlraum (ten beams); (b) relative beam spot positions, as imaged with a -50 pm resolution pinhole camera.
capsule laser pulse. The power ratio of the rings would be
adjusted to obtain symmetry for each of a succession of sym-
metry capsules that would sample successively longer por-
tions of the entire pulse. The beam placement specifications discussed in Sec. XIII are chosen to provide the reproduc-
ibility required for such an iterative technique.
In addition to direct capsule measurements of symmetry,
experimental measurements of the x-ray spot motion and
Experiment
.c - -\
1% witness plate
(a;One&ded lllumlnatlon
(b) Two-sided lllumlnatlon Data Comparison with calculation
I
200 -1
> 23 ATf
l-b 730.15
CT-, c
,I \ \
I’ \
tl \
\
0 Experiment
- - WALLE /
I I I
0 500 1000
x (km)
FIG. 68. Knowledge of laser deposition and radiation transport makes possible accurate modeling of wall heating uniformity.
3984 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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hohlraum walI albedo provide significant information on
time variation of the capsule symmetry. These experiments,
in effect, specify the functional form of the time-dependent
symmetry from the LEH and wall motion. The implosion
experiments then determine the time average of this func-
tional form. Wall-loss experiments, such as those discussed
in Fig. 55, are related-through Eqs. (134), (16X), and
(171)-to the desired angular location of the x-ray emission.
Experiments, such as those on Nova discussed below, can
also measure the actual location of the laser-generated hot
spots and their motion due to wall blowoff and refraction.
With the constraints imposed by such measurements, a time-
integrated measurement of implosion symmetry for the igni-
tion experiments may be adequate to ensure that the time
variations are acceptable. For example, the uncertainty in the
wall opacity obtained from wall-loss experiments will result
in an uncertainty in the power or pointing required for opti-
mal symmetry in an ignition hohlraum. However, a 30% un-
certainty in opacity would result in only about a 1” uncer-
tainty in the optimal location of the average laser hot-spot
position or a 1% uncertainty in the time-dependent asymme-
try at the peak of the laser pulse. This is well within tolerable
limits if the time-integrated flux is uniform. The Nova spot-
motion experiments discussed below have an error bar of
about 50 ,um on the measurement of the centroid of x-ray
emission. Experiments with this level of accuracy on an ig-
nition experiment would result in a < 1% uncertainty in the
time-dependent asymmetry from spot motion. With two rings
of beams per side, as proposed for the NIF, the relative
brightness of the two rings also would have to be determined
to a few percent, as indicated in Table VIII in Sec. XIII.
A wide variety of experiments have been carried out on
Nova to test the control of hohlraum symmetry. Thin-walled
hohlraums, which transmit x rays with hv>3-5 keV were
used to determine the location of laser light absorption.”
Figure 67 shows the results of a thin-walled hohlraum ex-
periment with a 1 ns pulse. This experiment demonstrated
high absorption and little spot motion at the geometric posi-
tion of the laser beam spot. More recent experiments on
Nova, lg2 which use a time-gated x-ray framing camera, can
be used to obtain time-resolved information about the high-
energy x-ray emission from pulse-shaped hohlraums.
Uniform-thickness witness plates also were placed in the
hohlraum wall” in early Nova experiments to measure tem-
perature gradients. As shown in Fig. 68, the time variation in
shock breakout is related to the temperature gradient. For a
hohlraum with a single ring of beams, the gradient is very
large. With two rings, the gradient along the aluminum plate
is only a few electron volts. Both results were as expected
from calculations.
Since Nova has only a single ring of beams per side, as
shown schematically in Fig. 10, it is possible to eliminate
only the average of P2. The residual time variation in flux
uniformity produces the lateral mass motion described
above. On Nova, these effects become significant for conver-
gence ratios greater than about 10. Since the purpose of the
Nova symmetry experiments was to determine only average
flux uniformity, convergence ratios were limited to about 10,
sufficient for a 1% average flux measurement without the
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 added complexity of the distortion generated by the time
dependence of the flux uniformity.
Beginning with experiments in 1986,” the time-
averaged symmetry on Nova has been demonstrated by im-
ploding capsules and imaging the imploded fuel volume. The
fuel is imaged by using either an x-ray pinhole framing
cameralg3 or a time-integrated ring aperture microscope
(RAM).lg4 The RAM uses penumbral imaging with a ring
slit to obtain about ten times better signal-to-noise ratio than
a pinhole camera with a comparable resolution. The framing
camera consists of a series of as many as 16 pinholes that
image onto a microchannel plate (MCP). When a 100 ps
voltage pulse is propagated across the MCP, the image from
any given pinhole is recorded during the time this pulse is
propagating across that portion of the MCP that is receiving
photons from that pinhole. The time between individual im-
ages can be adjusted independently in the camera used to
take the images shown in Fig. 69. Capsules used in these
experiments are the same as those shown in Fig. 42.
The sign and magnitude of P2 can be varied by changing
either the hohlraum length or the beam pointing. Figure 70
shows the results of changing the beam pointing. We define
the capsule pole as the portion of the capsule on the axis of
rotation. The waist is the portion of the capsule along the
hohlraum midplane. When the hohlraum is elongated, as in
the left image, the position of the laser beams is closer to the
LEH than is required to achieve uniform average flux, result-
ing in a “pancake” implosion. As the hohlraum is shortened,
as shown in the right image, the illumination from the two
rings of laser beams approaches the capsule waist, and the
average flux delivered to the waist begins to exceed that
delivered to the poles, resulting in a “sausage” implosion.
Between these two extremes, the laser spots are at the opti-
mum position for which the average P, component is zero,
and the implosion appears spherical. The center image is
spherical within the measurement accuracy of a few percent
in flux. An interesting feature of the sausage image is the
rotation of the image axis away from the hohlraum axis. This
-. .:.
Caselcapsule t~1.45 ns
area ratio 16 -,yy .: *
7, .:i:...:::: ;,+ :.:y =
0
t =‘I 36 ns
tnl.71 ns
R
t (ns)
FIG. 69. The 100 psresolution, x-ray framing cameras are used to observe
the imploding capsule and to infer hohlraum drive symmetry.
Review Article 3985
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outwnrd polniing Inward-pointing
@I (0)
FIG. 70. Nova experiments have used x-ray imaging of imploding capsules
to test the modeling of hohlraum drive asymmetries. Observed x-ray image
shapes confirm the calculated variation of the implosion shape with beam
pointing: (a) outward-pointing shifts produce pole-high fluxes or “pancake”
images; (b) symmetric: (c) inward-pointing shifts produce waist-high fluxes
or “sausaged” images. The tilted axis in (c) shows the effects of beam
imbalance and pointing errors prior to the Precision Nova improvements.
type of nonaxial distortion occurred frequently on Nova prior
to the power balance and pointing improvements achieved in
the “Precision Nova” Project. The pointing accuracy and
power balance goals specified for Precision Nova recently
have been achieved,“’ with pointing accuracy improved
from about 100 ,um to the Precision Nova goal of 30 pm
[see Fig. 7 1 (a)]. The power balance has been improved about
a factor of 2, to 5%, during the high-power part of the pulse
and to less than 10% during the low-power foot of the pulse
[see Fig. 71(b)] for the 20 kJ pulse shape used for the high-
density, high-convergence HEP- 1 implosions described in
Sec. X. With these specifications, Nova implosions can be
carried out repeatedly within a 1% variation in the average
flux uniformity. Figure 7 1 (c) shows that Nova is now capable
of meeting the Precision Nova power balance specifications
for a pulse having a 1O:l contrast ratio and delivering more
than 40 kJ.
Table III lists the different types of pulse shapes and
hohlraums that have been used in symmetry experiments.
Constant-power, 1 ns pulses: the 3:1-contrast, 2.2 ns, ps22
pulse; and the 8: l-contrast, ps23 pulse have all been used.
[The last two pulse shapes and their witness-plate shock tra-
jectories were shown in Figs. 40(c) and 40(d).] Gold hohl-
raums without liners, hohlraums with CH and nickel liners,
and hohlraums with methane gas fill have been tested. Most
of the symmetry experiments were carried out with ps22,
which produces plasma conditions and spot motion that are
very close to those of NIF target designs.
The symmetry experiments with liners were carried out
before choosing a gas-filled hohlraum as the baseline target
for the NIF. Symmetry experiments on gas-filled hohlraums
began on Nova during the summer of 1994 and are continu-
ing. Because the presence of low-Z material in the hohlraum
during the high-power part of the pulse did not adversely
affect the low-Z liner experiments, any difference between
the lined and gas-filled hohlraums are expected to result pri-
marily from startup effects. The gas-filled hohlraums present
more of a computational challenge because of the presence (8) i3a8m pointing (10 ban*) &I) PCWW balance (10 beams)
-100
-1ikl 0 100
Azlmuthlll affsef @I)
Pmlsion NOW goal: 30 WII 2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0
500 low 1500 2ow 25w
nme W
Pnclsion Nova goal: 5-10s
(c) PCWW balance Es, E 41.4 kJ
3,
Wme (nr)
FIG. 71. The Nova laser power balance and beam pointing were improved
by a factor of 2-3 in the Precision Nova project. These improvements were
required for high-precision symmetry experiments and high-convergence
implosions.
of a window on the hohlraum LEH to contain the gas and
because of a transient as the laser beam initially propagates
through the window and gas. Gas-filled hohlraums also have
been used for the plasma scaling experiments described in
Sec. XI.
For all the Nova experiments discussed below, the hohl-
raums were 1600 pm in diameter with a 1200 ,um LEH.
Pointing positions refer to the distance between the hohlraum
midplane and the plane at which the central ray of all the
beams on one side would intersect as they pass through the
axis of the hohlraum, as shown schematically in Fig. 72. This
distance fixes the angle between the capsme axis and the
x-ray emission region and is the principal determinant of the
resultant implosion symmetry. In “normal focusing” for
most Nova implosion experiments, all beams pass through
the origin in the plane of the LEH. For a given LEH size, this
gives the greatest clearance between the laser beams and the
hohlraum wall. This is the focusing for experiments in which
symmetry is changed by varying the hohlraum length. As
indicated in Table III, experiments also have been done with
constant-length hohlraums in which symmetry is changed by
varying the beam focal position relative to the LEH. These
two types of experiments give essentially the same results
until the laser beams for the constant-length hohhaum ex-
periments begin strongly interacting with plasma from the
LEH.
Most of the symmetry experiments and modeling dis-
cussed hereafter were carried out on Nova between 1991 and
1993 as a joint effort by Livermore and Los Alamos.‘g2~‘8g
Similar experiments have been carried out on the GEKKO
XII laser.27
To date, hohlraums driven with ps22 have been tested
under the widest range of different hohlraum and pointing
3986 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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TABLE lII. An extensive hohlraum symmetry database has been developed on Nova.
Au, fixed Au, Ni-line Au, Ni-lined Au, CH-lined CH4 gas-filled,
length, variable fixed length, variable Au, variable variable
variable length, variable length, length, length,
focus fixed focus focus fixed focus fixed focus fixed focus
E
!
ffi x X X X
1 n-3
1 nr
ps22
5
m X X X X X X
- 3:l
2.2 ns
ps23
lImz?l X
6:l
2.6 3.2
ns ns
variations. Figure 72 shows the results of experiments and
calculations for ps22 in hohlraums lined with 150 nm of
nickel. For these experiments, the beam crossing position
was in the plane of the LEH, so the beam-pointing position is
also the hohlraum half-length, and symmetry is plotted ver-
sus hohlraum half-length. The capsule distortion is the ratio
of the capsule waist dimension to that along the hohlraum
axis. The log of distortion is linearly proportion to average
flux nonuniformity. For ps22 implosions, a 2~1 distortion of
the fuel corresponds to a 5% average asymmetry. As seen in
Fig. 72, the agreement between experiment and the LASNEX
calculations is quite good.
Most of the data for the symmetry experiments were
collected before the Precision Nova improvements were
completed, and typical experiments with nominally the same
Time (nr) (fj) ‘i oo~oo +%+&¶;;;\ 0.1
900 1100 ,300 ,800
Pointing position (pm)
PIG. 72. J.,ASNW[ calculations do an excellent job of modeling symmetry for
experiments in which laser pointing is kept fixed at the plane of the LEH as
the hohlraum length is varied for pure-gold and lined hohlraums.‘“’
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 conditions could have a shot-to-shot symmetry variation of
several percent. Hovever, with Precision Nova improve-
ments, experiments reproducible to within 1% in average
asymmetry are possible, as shown in Fig. 73 (again for ps22
experiments). The yield from these Precision Nova experi-
ments is also highly reproducible, as shown in Fig. 74. At a
temperatures of l-2 keV produced in these implosions, the
approximate factor-of-2 shot-to-shot yield variation corre-
sponds to a reproducibility within + 10% in ion temperature.
The focus of gas-filled hohlraum experiments has been
on the ps22 pulse in hohlraums filled with 1 atm of
methane.lg5 When ionized, this gas has a density nln,=0.03,
about the same as the NIF baseline hohlraum (see Fig. 106 in
Sec. XIII). At a later time, the gas compresses to n/n,-0.1,
also comparable to the NIF targets (see Fig. 90 in Sec. XI).
. . . . . . . . . ..I....... -; . ..1....... I . . . . . . . . . . . i . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12W 1200
Hohlraum half length (pm)
FIG. 73. Precision Nova implosions have shown excellent reproducibility of
symmetry.
Review Article 3987
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.
P At pointing of e
best symmetry m 2:l ablate
.’
From ps22 reproducibility series
10’ I I
1200 1300
Pointing position (q)
PIG. 74. At best pointing, the scatter in the Precision Nova ps22 yields
imply average T, is reproducible to less than I 10%.
The work on gas-filled hohlraums is still being analyzed and
the symmetry results discussed below are preliminary. De-
tailed analysisrg6 of the gas hohlraum energetics experi-
ments, indicates that no significant surprises are observed
compared to the earlier lined hohlraums when measured lev-
els of SBS and SRS are taken into account.
A variation of capsule symmetry with hohlraum length
for gas-filled hohlraums is reproducible and behaves the
same as for lined and unlined hohlraums. However, as shown
in Fig. 7.5, the gas-filled hohlraums have optimal symmetry
for a target that is lo%-15% shorter than for the lined or
unlined Nova hohlraums. Hohlraums with the standard poly-
imide 6500 A windows and no gas fill also have optimal
symmetry with a lo%-15% shorter hohlraum, as shown in
Fig. 75. Optimal symmetry for a thinner, 3500 A window
and no gas fill falls between the two cases. LASNEX calcula-
tions correctly predict the slope of distortion versus pointing
position, but are offset from the data by about 150 pm, about
15%-20% of the laser spot diameter. At a given pointing
position, the symmetry shift is equal to about 5% in flux.
Such a change in hohlraum length would cause no change in
the NIF laser specifications. A promising explanation for this
enhanced spot motion effect is refraction of laser beam tila-
ments caused by flow of hohlraum plasma transverse to the
laser beam propagation direction.1g7 As a laser beam filament
is forming, plasma is ejected at the sound speed from the
, Gold
rime (nr) Pointing posItton (sm)
0 Experlmhnt (0000 h window only)
A Exi.wlmsni (CH, 1 atm)
+3-LASNEX (CH, 1 atm)
PIG. 75. Symmetry experiments with gas-filled hohlraums show the same
variations with pointing position as empty hohiraums, but the data are offset
from the current LASNEX calculations by 150 ,um. 900 1300
Polnling d beet symmetiy lrum LASHEX ($Un)
PIG. 76, LASNEX successfully predicts the pointing of best symmetry for
almost all symmetry experiments. Beams must be moved inward for longer
pulses to compensate for spot motion caused by hohlraum wall blowoff. The
experimental pointing of best symmetry is offset from the calculations by
- 150 pm for the methane-gas-filled hohlraums. The cause of this offset is
being investigated.
filament region. Without transverse flow, this process is sym-
metric and the beam propagation direction is unaffected.
With transverse flow, the formation process is asymmetric,
effectively resulting in a density gradient transverse to the
beam which causes beam deflection. The effect is largest
near the sonic point, where matter trying to propagate in the
upstream direction, persists for a long time. In hohlraums,
the sonic point in the flow generally occurs near the laser
entrance hole. For Nova’s unsmoothed beams, which are cur-
rently used for the symmetry experiments, this plasma is
calculated to be unstable to filamentation essentially through-
out the pulse for the gas-filled hohlraums. Initially empty
hohlraums on the other hand, do not develop enough gain for
filamentation until late in the pulse. Experiments are in
progress that are designed to determine the source of the
shift.
A convenient way of portraying the correspondence be-
tween experiment and calculation for the symmetry experi-
ments is shown in Fig. 76. This figure compares the caicu-
lated and experimentally measured pointing of best
symmetry for all of the combinations of hohlraums and pulse
shapes tested. An interesting feature of Fig. 76 is the fact
that, as the pulse length increases, the pointing of best sym-
metry moves toward the capsule waist. This occurs because
of the increased spot motion caused by the wall blowoff, as
the pulse length is increased. To compensate for this in-
creased motion, the initial pointing location must be moved
inward.
This motion of the x-ray emission region also has been
measured directly in Nova experiments by cutting a slot in
the hohlraum wall and looking at the axial location of the
x-ray emission, from a beam on the opposite wall, as a func-
tion of time. ‘8g*‘g8 Figure 77 shows a comparison of the ob-
served and calculated locations of the emission for a ps22
experiment at an x-ray energy of 450 eV. The observed axial
spot motion of about 200 pm agrees with the calculated
value. This motion corresponds to a shift in the angular po-
sition of emission relative to the capsule center of about 15”,
comparable to that calculated for the individual cones of
beams on the NIF target.
As shown in Fig. 78, Nova experiments also have been
3988 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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Position
of
emission
1; .o w
;B t
27% =lE
?I
Time (ns)
FIG. 77. The observed axial motion of the centroid of emission for ps22 is
close to that calculated. In calculations, Nova beams are assumed to have a
Gaussian profile, whereas the actual beam has significant structure, which
makes identification of the beam centroid ambiguous.g6
used to determine the effects of putting a high-Z disk be-
tween the LEH and the capsule.‘52 As discussed earlier, the
high-Z disk reaches about the same temperature as the hohl-
raum wall, effectively eliminating the negative P2 from the
hoIe. Hence, a beam pointing in a standard hohlraum that
gives a sausaged implosion produces a nearly spherical im-
plosion when the disk is inserted. Figure 79 shows P21Po for
the imploded shape as a function of the shield radius. Be-
cause of spot motion, which is largely unaffected by the pres- “-:i -“‘-b z 1
+-yzJ l-q&A ]
L J
-0.6 I' "I ' "'I ' 'I 'I ' " " ' "" ' 'I 'I ' "'I ' I"' I 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Shield radius (pm)
FIG. 79. The effect of LEH shields on Nova hohlraums can be modeled
quantitatively.
ence of the disk, these implosions still have a time variation
in symmetry. It may be possible to balance the effects of spot
motion-which results in a progressiveIy larger flux to the
capsule pole-by using a shaped disk or entrance hole that
becomes more lossy at late times.
The results shown in Figs. 73-79 represent a time-
integrated measure of asymmetry. However, for the reasons
discussed above, an implosion that has a time-average uni-
form flux will have a flux at any instant that may be either
pole high or waist high. Figure 80 shows a typical variation
for a 1 ns, constant-power pulse. Very early in time, for the
pointing chosen, the flux is pole high. Then, as the wall
albedo increases, significant flux starts to come from all areas
of the hohlraum wall except for the LEHs, and the flux be-
comes waist high. As the hohlraum heats up, plasma blows
1-ns square laser pulse; identical pointing
FIG. 78. Internal radiation shields modify implosion symmetry, in agreement with calculations.
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3989
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0 0 0
Compressed core imagat
FIG. 80. Time-dependent symmetry from a 1 ns pulse. Symmetry capsules
that implode at different times in the pulse show different asymmetries.
off the hohlraum walls, and the laser absorption region and
x-ray production move inward, moving the x-ray emission
more toward the pole, thus again making the flux on the
capsule more pole high. Finally, when the laser beams shut
off, there is no source to balance the holes, and the flux
becomes waist high again. In Sec. XIII, Fig. 115 shows the
equivalent time variation for a NIF target without using the
“beam phasing” described previousIy to remove the time
dependence.
Several techniques are being developed to obtain time-
dependent symmetry information. One approach uses the full
pulse with a series of capsules designed to implode at differ-
ent times during the pulse. Those capsules that implode early
see only the early-time asymmetry, and a record of the evo-
lution of asymmetry can be obtained as indicated in Fig. 80.
Los Alamos has begun work on this approach,‘92 as shown in
Fig. 81 for Nova experiments that used ps22.
A second technique replaces the capsule with a uniform
sphere of material, as shown in Fig. 82. The x-ray flux in the
hohlraum will drive a shock into this material, which can be
imaged by x-ray backlighting. When an appropriate combi-
nation of sphere composition and density and x-ray back-
lighter energy are chosen, a large opacity contrast is obtained
(a)
0 0
35 km
wall capsule
20 pm
wall capsule W w at the shock. With different choices of x-ray energy or ma-
terial, the ablation front rather than the shock front is more
easily imaged.
Distortion of the shock front is approximately related to
the drive pressure nonuniformity by
; (equator-- Qole) = f g (&-I). (1771
For ps22, Fig. 82 shows the calculated ratio of PplJPequator ,
which can then be compared with the measurement. The av-
erage pressure p can be obtained from the shock velocity.
Figure 83 shows the results from a Nova experiment.‘* In
this figure, A, is the second Legendre coefficient of the po-
sition of the shock trajectory and A0 is the average distance
moved by the shock. The numerical calculation and the data
are in agreement for this experiment. Calculations2m show
that, with the current resolution of about 2 pm in the shock
position, time variations in NIF target fluxes can be obtained
to about 2%.
A technique that can be used to obtain early-time sym-
metry information is the reemission ba11.201 In this technique,
a nonimploding, high-Z sphere is placed at the capsule loca-
tion. Reemission from this sphere is related to the incident
flux. Figure 84 shows the result of a Nova experiment that
used a bismuth-coated sphere and a 2: 1 beam asymmetry in
the two Nova rings of beams.‘g2’202
Symmetry experiments on Nova have been a good test
of many of the features that will affect symmetry on the NIF.
(9 The minimum case-to-capsule ratio (ratio of hohlraum
radius to initial capsule radius) is comparable on
Nova (2.8) and the NIF (2.5). As described in Figs. 61
and 62, this ratio determines the geometric smoothing
of source flux nonuniformities in a hohlraum. It also
determines the coupling efficiency of x rays to the
capsule, as described by Eq. (132).
(ii) The LEH effect on the flux uniformity at the capsule
is comparable on Nova experiments and the NIF hohl-
(d)
(tm)dXPt = 0.92
W~tfrso. = 0.95
-20 0 20 ym
FIG. 81. Data from ps22 using the variation in implosion time of capsules with different wall thickness: (a) initial capsule configuration; (b) shaded portion
of the drive represents the effective sampling interval for the implosion for the two cases; (c) implosion image data taken orthogonal to the hohlraum axis; and
(d) comparison of the measured capsule eccentricity with the calculated value.
3990 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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/ TI backllghter disk
producing 4.7.keV
K-shell emlsslon
Backllghter beams:
8.0 kJ, 2 ns pulse at
2~0 delayed -0.5 ns
Laser beams:
23.kJ 301 In 8 beams
(symmetrically placed)
3:l contrast pulse (ps22)
Shock-compressed
materlal dlstorted by
drive asymmetry absorbs 4quetor
backllghter x rays, I
Ppd.
rpoh p/2
$ Vquator - rpod - 2 Pp0b
hquator -1
I 2.0 -1
o.ooL 1 2
f 0-N
FIG. 82. X-ray radiography can be used to infer time-dependent asymmetry from imaged shock distortion.
1
0 p P 0.3 g/cm3 SiOz bail
0.5 0.7 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.5
Time (ns)
FIG. 83. The foam witness ball technique can measure pressure asymme-
tries with nearly 10% accuracy on Nova. Here AZ is the second Legendre
coefficient of the shock trajectory. Here A, is the average shock position. FIG. 84. Reemission from a high-2 coated sphere is sensitive to incident
flux asymmetry for h&=-T. This technique was proposed by Suter (1984)
and has been developed by Los Alamos (1991-1994).‘g2 The reemission
concept is sensitive to asymmetry for early times (Kl ns) in the Nova
experiments.
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3991 \ J East cone t cone
earns) earns)
4KJ 4KJ
BI nonlmplodlng
target mounted
on a Formvar
web serves as
the signature of
symmetry
condltlons
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Total laser energy = 21 kJ
Foot balance = 8% RMS
Peak balance = 4% RUS
nmi (ns)
Drive spectrum was near Plan&Ian
In a uranlum hohlraum 2500 pm length
t t t
0 50 100 150 200
Fill pressure (atm)
FIG. 85. HEP-l/Precision Nova shots have conservatively measured convergence ratios (from secondary neutron spectra) that are into the NIF range, The
experimental measurements and calculations are in good agreement. 2M Fracmix in Cd) is the mix width as a fraction of the distance between the fuel/pusher
interface fall line and the unmixed interface postion,
raum (see Fig. 106 in Sec. XIII). The P,IPo at the
capsule, due to the LEH, is about 10% for the NIF
design. Depending on the size of the LEH, this effect
ranges from 10% to 20% for the Nova experiments.
(iii) The angular change in the location of the source emis-
sion due to wall blowoff, which determines the mag-
nitude of Rux asymmetry due to spot motion is about
lo”-15” on both Nova experiments with the 2.2 ns
ps22 pulse and for the gas-filled ignition hohlraum
(see Fig. 106 in Sec. XIII).
(iv) Refraction effects for both the Nova experiments and
the NIF hohlraum are generally fairly small. The re-
fraction angle is given approximately by203
(178)
where x,(L,) is distance (scale length) along the
beam path and xp(Lp) is distance (scale length) per-
pendicular to the beam path. Because nln,=O.l and
electron conduction results in L,-L,,, refraction is
limited to a few degrees.
(v) Implosion symmetry reproducibility for Precision
3992 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Nova, as shown in Fig. 73 meets the 1% uniformity
requirements for ignition experiment time-averaged
flux.
(vi) Inward and outward pointing on Nova, as shown in
Fig. 72, simulates the effects of the inner and outer
rings on the NIF hohlraum (see Fig. 106 in Sec. XIII).
Although the Nova experiments used only a single
ring of beams per side, calculations indicate that the
single-ring experiments are a good test of flux asym-
metry from the individual ring positions.
X. COMBINED TESTS OF SYMMETRY AND
HYDRODYNAMIC INSTABILITY
A goal of the NAS-mandated Nova Technical Contract
(NTC) is implosions have levels of hydrodynamic instability
growth and convergence ratios approaching those required
for capsules on the NIF. Because Nova has only a single ring
of beams per side, elimination of time-dependent symmetry
effects has not been possible. Hence, the convergence ratio
achievable on Nova is smaller than could be achieved on the
NIF. However, hohlraums and capsules can be designed to
minimize these effects on Nova. By the use of a smaller
Review Article
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capsule-to-case aspect ratio, the higher-order flux asymme-
tries are further reduced. Also, a smaller capsule requires a
shorter pulse, which results in less spot motion and less time-
dependent asymmetry. Capsules being designed to vary hy-
drodynamic instability growth in a controlled way are de-
scribed in Fig. 47.
In the HEP-1z04 experiments on Nova, we have made
significant progress toward achieving the combined symme-
try and stability-growth levels required for ignition targets by
using the capsule shown in Fig. 85(a). This plastic-coated
glass microballoon is about half the size of the typical Nova
plastic capsule. Because of its small size, the HEP-1 capsule
required the relatively short pulse shown in Fig. 85(b).
The glass inner shell of the HEP-1 capsule provided ra-
diation preheat protection at this scale and was used for a
neutron-activation measurement to determine the com-
pressed pusher density. Also, as shown in Fig. 85(c), the
capsule was placed in a uranium hohlraum, which further
reduced preheat. Under the conditions of laser intensity and
plasma temperature of this experiment, the uranium M-band
radiation at about 4 keV was much smaller than the gold
M-band radiation at about 3 keV from a standard Nova hohl-
raum.
Because the HEP-I capsule was intended for high
convergence-ratio experiments, it provided a particularly
good test of precision Nova. The 8: 1 contrast pulse shown in
Fig. 85(b) was used for the Precision Nova power balance
test shown in Fig. 71(b). The convergence ratio of these im-
plosions was controlled by varying the initial fill density of
the DD fuel from 200 to 25 atm. As seen in Fig. 85(d), the
convergence ratio, as inferred from the pr of the compressed
fuel, varied from about 10 to 24. At the higher value, the
convergence is comparable to that for some of the NIF igni-
tion capsules designs discussed in Sec. XIII. The experimen-
tally observed values of convergence in Fig. 85(d) were av-
eraged over several implosions (2 at 200 atm, 6 at 100 atm,
and 10 at 25 atm), and the errors were dominated by the
statistical sample size of observed secondary neutrons. With-
out the improvements of Precision Nova, the achievable
symmetry is inadequate, and the density of the implosions
starts decreasing for fills below 100 atm. The pr of the fuel
in these implosions was obtained using the Large Neutron
Scattering Array (LANSA)zo5 array of 960 single-hit scintil-
lator detectors. This detector measures neutrons from the
secondary DT reactions that occur in DD fuel:
D+D+He3+N,
D+D--*T (1.01 MeV)+P, (179)
T (O-l.01 MeV)+D-+He4+N (11-17 MeV).
The two DD reactions occur with equal probability. When
the fuel pr is less than the triton range, the probability of the
DT reaction is proportional to the fuel pr. The triton range
depends on the fuel temperature, and, near the end of the
range, the implied fuel pr for a given secondary fraction is
sensitive to temperature.206
Shown in Fig. 86 is the ratio of the DT-to-DD neutrons
RDTIRDD~ as a function of fuel pr at different fuel tempera-
tures. The size of the HEP-1 capsule initially was chosen to PR Wcm2)
FIG. 86. We see R,/R,,, as a function of pr for several fuel electr6n
temperatures. u)4 The model used assumes a large uniform density and tem-
perature fuel region with a negligibly small central “hot spot,” from which
all tritons originate. Curves end at the value of pr where the tritons have
thermalized in the fuel. Fuel density used was 21 g/cm3.
minimize this problem by limiting the expected fuel pr to a
range in which the temperature-dependent effects were rela-
tively small. In the HEP-1 experiments, fuel temperatures
were l-2 keV, and fuel pr’s were about 0.01-0.015 g/cm’.
As seen in Fig. 86, the inferred pr is relatively insensitive to
temperature in this range, and it is essentially linear in
RDTJRDD~. Neutron energy depends on kinetics and the en-
ergy of the reacting triton, which slows down as it traverses
the fuel. As the triton slows, the width of the neutron spec-
trum narrows.
LANSA provides both a secondary neutron fraction and
a neutron spectrum, so that the fuel pr can be obtained with-
out model-dependent assumptions regarding triton
slowing.207 Figure 87 shows the neutron spectrum obtained
from summing the spectra from the ten 25 atm shots. Figure
87 also shows the LASNEX-calculated spectrum, including the
effects of hydrodynamic instability estimated from the Haan
mix model described earlier. From these measurements, we
infer an average DT equivalent fuel density, assuming con-
stant density versus radius, of about 20 g/cm3.
15 - - Fit to sum of shots
Simulation (Haan mix
0
11 12 13 14 15 16 ‘17 18
Energy (MeV)
FIG. 87. Shape of composite neutron spectrum of 25 atm experiments (ten
shots) is well modeled by simulation with the Haan mix model.*m
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3993
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,,,,,,,,,,,, * ,,,, II ,,,,,, II,,
Clean, 1-D
a 25-atm fill
Ou004 -
f lti
ltttt IIttI IIIII IJIlt IlflL
‘O’o.9 1 01~*~~ ‘)IIl ‘t*BI ‘~t~f’*~l*f-~t~ 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 c J
f t
0.003 -
t
1 0.002 - t MIX
40% ml
e
P - Haan mlx
f 0.001 -
Secondary neutron width (F&V) Secondary neutron wfdth (MeV)
FIG. 88. The combination of the Haan mix model and drive asymmetry somewhat overestimates degradation of 25 atm fill capsules.
Figure 88 shows that the LASNEX calculations must add
the effects of mix and asymmetry in order to reproduce the
observed yield, secondary yield fraction, and secondary
neutron-energy width. In these calculations, the P, and P,
from residual pointing errors and beam imbalance were
added to the calculations.
Also, two types of mix modeling were done. First were
detailed 2-D calculations of the growth of a wide spectrum
of individual modes. This growth, coupled with mode-
saturation effects from the Haan model, was folded with the
measured surface finish to obtain a mix depth as a function
of time at the fuel-glass interface as the capsule decelerated.
This analysis results in the point labeled “Haan mix.” For
comparison, another series of calculations simply mixed
glass and fuel to a certain fraction of the distance between
the interface and the “fall line” (i.e., the calculated position
of the glass-DT interface if there had been no deceleration).
The separation of the fall line and the glass-DT interface is
the deceleration distance. Typically, a mix width will be
some fraction (“fracmix” in Fig. 88) of this distance. For the
calculations shown in Fig. 88, this mix width varied from
10% to 40%. The Haan mix analysis, for this capsule and
surface finish, is essentially equivalent to a 40% mix width.
Since the fall line is approximately at the origin at the time of peak neutron production, a 40% mix has the effect of
mixing 40% of the fuel radius by the time of peak bum. As
seen in Fig. 88, the Haan mix analysis plus the effects of
asymmetry slightly overestimates the observed performance
degradation.
In addition to the LANSA data used to obtain the fuel
pr, other experiments measured the glass pusher pr. From
these measurements, we obtain pusher densities of approxi-
mately 1501’50 g/cm3.
Table IV compares the measured and calculated values
for convergence, fuel, and pusher density and yield. Also
listed are the calculated hydrodynamic instability growth and
the x-ray-pulse-shape contrast ratio. These quantities ap-
proach those required for a NIF capsule, as indicated.
XI. HOHLRAUM PLASMA CONDITIONS
To control symmetry, reproducible beam-propagation
conditions are necessary in the laser channel, and these con-
ditions must be consistent with accurate placement of the
laser beams. Plasma parametric instabilities such as stimu-
lated Brillouin scattering (SBS)” can result in an energy loss
or possibly cause a random redirection of energy in the hohl-
raum. Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), in addition to its
TABLE IV. For the Nova glass implosions, the calculated implosion parameters agree well with observed
values and approach key MF target requirements.
Low-convergence High-convergence
fill pressure (25 atm) fill pressure
Observed Calculated Observed Catculated NIF
Convergence
CR cspa”telRf”el)
Density (g/cm’)
(hot spot model)
Pusher density
mg/cm* (g/cm’)
Hydrodynamic
instability growth
Pulse shape
contrast (laser)
Yield ( IO7 neutrons) 1410.7 12.3 23.62 1.8 20.7 20-35
1622.4 12.6 19.1 t4.4 14 45-75
73215 53 (140) 602 18 72 (170) (700- 1200)
.*. 60- 160 . . . 60-160 400
8 8 8 8 10-50
7.22 1 10 4.220.4 3.8 . . .
3994 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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effects on the energy balance and symmetry, results in the
generation of high-energy electrons, which can cause pre-
heat, as described in Sec. XII.
Plasma that evolves into the hohlraum consists of
radiation-driven blowoff and direct laser ablation. The
radiation-ablated gold mass is approximated by Eq. (128).
The mass ablated by direct laser electron conduction is ob-
tained from Eq. (48), in which the laser intensity used should
be the intensity that is not converted to x rays. For an igni-
tion hohlraum at a radiation temperature of 300 eV, the un-
converted incident laser intensity is about 1Or5 W/cm2 on
about 20% of the hohlraum area. In this case, direct laser
ablation contributes only a few percent of the mass injected
into the hohlraum. However, at early times, since the tem-
perature of the laser-heated materia1 is higher, the expansion
velocity into the hohlraum is higher, and plasma in the laser
beam will be dominated by the laser-ablated material. For
laser light with wavelengths of 1 ,um and longer, hohlraum
plasma conditions can reach a significant fraction of critical
density, n,=(1021/cm3)/~2(~m), during this early phase.
For all hohlraum experiments on Shiva and earlier 1 ,um
lasers, we found that, when hohlraums are calculated to de-
velop large regions of plasma near nJ4, they became very
efficient at converting incident laser light into hot electrons
and Raman-scattered light. As shown in Fig. 21, the fraction
of energy left in the laser pulse when the hohlraum is calcu-
lated to reach nJ4 corresponds closely to the energy in hot
electrons. The observed hot-electron fractions, with a tem-
perature of about 50 keV, approached 50% of the incident
light, which is the maximum possible level from Raman
scattering. A 50% hot-electron fraction is possible only if all
of the incident light is scattered in a Raman process at nJ4.
The 20~~ process also occurs at n/4 and is an additional
potential source of electrons. In this process, an incident pho-
ton decays into two plasma waves. The 20~~ instability pro-
duces no direct electromagnetic signature and thus is hard to
detect. Emission at 1.50,~ can be produced by this instabil-
ity. The 20~~ process generally produces higher-energy elec-
trons than Raman scattering, and may be responsible for a
superhot tail with a temperature above 100 keV, which was
generally seen in the Shiva experiments.
A model that reproduces the scaling of hot electrons in
these 1 pm experiments is based on considering only the
time that it takes the directly driven laser blowoff to fill the
hohlraum volume to nJ4 and then assuming that all remain-
ing light in the pulse is Raman scattered with 100%
efficiency.69 Below critical density, the laser heats the blow-
off to near isothermal conditions. The time required for suf-
ficient material to accumulate to reach nJ4 scales as
~,,,pS/Vs, where V,is the isothermal sound velocity and S
is the hohlraum scale size. Since V,K (ZT,) 1’2 and 2~ T”2,
then Vs=?‘4. If the temperature in the laser-heated blowoff
is determined by the electron flux limit, which is a good
approximation for long laser wavelength at relevant intensi-
ties, then
Imn T V mn T3’2mT3’2/X2 tee ce c 9
or . Shiva 2-i-m
10-i 6 t = pulfelenglh (IIS)
s=1~5OOpmdiam
x2
0 20 40 60
#/Et
FIG. 89. Plots of fhot vs S41Et for 2 ns Cairn experiments on Shiva. A
scale-l.0 (s= 1) hohlraum is 500 /*m in diameter and 800 pm long.
Tc+t2)2’3
and
V,~T~‘4~(Ih2)1’2,
where V, is the electron thermal velocity. Using this scaling,
we obtain
080)
where ~~ is the laser pulse length, E is the laser energy, and
Ia Els2rL. This analysis predicts that there should be a time
delay before the onset of hot-electron production. From Eq.
(1 SO), this time delay should scale with E-‘” for a fixed-size
hohlraum and pulse length. This time delay and energy scal-
ing were observed on Shiva, as shown in Fig. 22, which is a
plot of the time delay in the production of high-energy x rays
versus the energy into a scale-2.0 Cairn hohlraum in a 2 ns
Gaussian pulse.
For closure times at the peak of the laser pulse or later,
the fraction of energy left in a Gaussian laser pulse is pro-
portional to the error function and scales approximately as
exp(-ry/4/72). Figure 89 is a semilog plot of fhot vs S4/E
for various 2 ns experiments done to test this scaling. The
first number listed near the data is the scale size, and the
second number is the laser energy in kilojoules. The scaling
is quite good, except for the lowest level point, with much
less than 1% of the energy in hot electrons.
This plasma filling limited the hohlraum temperatures
with low hot-electron levels, achievable with 1 pm laser
light on Shiva,to between 130 and 140 eV. The NPIRE71
implosion experiments discussed previously were designed
for this temperature, and they worked essentially as calcu-
lated. The Cairn experiments discussed above, which were
designed for higher radiation temperatures on both the Shiva
and Argus lasers, were significantly degraded by hot-electron
production.
For shorter laser wavelengths with higher critical densi-
ties, the blowoff plasma does not reach a significant fraction
of critical density until significantly higher hohlraum tem-
peratures are reached. At these higher hohlraum tempera-
tures, particularly for shaped laser pulses of longer duration,
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 3995
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the radiation-driven blowoff has time to fill the hohlraum and
becomes the dominant source of plasma in the hohlraum.
The interaction of the laser with the radiation blowoff deter-
mines the plasma conditions in the beam path. A combina-
tion of inverse bremsstrahlung absorption along the beam
path, electron conduction from the beam path into the sur-
rounding channel, and pressure equilibrium throughout the
channel determines the beam-path density and temperature.
By balancing these effects, a near equilibrium in temperature
and density is established in the laser propagation channel. A
simple model shows how these effects scale and reproduces
the average temperature and density from numerical
models.99
The inverse bremsstrahlung absorption power per unit
volume, PI,,, , along the laser channel, is given by
PLmv P,,,(TW/cm3)= ALL ( 1 -e- PLO-W LfAI.B.) c ~
A&LB. ’
(181)
where L is the propagation path length, and the absorption is
assumed to be small. The inverse bremsstrahlung absorption
length Xt,n, is taken from Eq. (175). Here AL is the cross-
sectional area of the laser beams and P, is the laser power in
Tw.
To estimate the electron conduction losses per unit vol-
ume from the channel, P,, we use Eq. (27). Although the
geometry of the laser beams can be complex, we approxi-
mate the conduction loss to be the loss from a sphere of
radius I and obtain
16 T;ff2
P,( TW/cm3) = - z In A -;T ‘(‘)’ (182)
where S(Z) was defined in Eq. (27).
Letting r2=A,/w and equating the conduction loss with
inverse bremsstrahlung heating, we have
PLUW = 28h2T2(keV)
z* In R2(nln,)2 S(Z). (183
Relating laser power to laser energy using Eq. (92), we ob-
tain the following relationship:
A2 -0.15 In2 h
(n&l f Tz- 1 .34T;.93Et’3Z2
S(Z) *
(184)
A second relationship between temperature and density
is obtained by equating the pressure in the hohlraum outside
the laser channel with the pressure inside the laser channel.
The density in the hohlraum outside the laser channel is
taken to be the radiation-ablated mass divided by the hohl-
raum volume. For a cylinder of radius Rhohl, the density is
given by p=2m,lRh,hI. We use Eq. (128) at constant radia-
tion temperature for the radiation-ablated mass and relate
time t to the laser energy by using Eq. (93). Assuming that
the case-to-capsule-radius ratio is fixed at about 3 in order to
achieve symmetry, we have, from Eq. (91a),
113
Rr,,,,(cm) = 1.04 E’Tt(F)
r (185) Combining these equations, we have
(. 1 -0.153
p(g/cm3)=0.0135T~~86E~o~153K~0~46 & .
For radiation temperatures typical of ICF, the average ioniza-
tion Z of gold versus radiation temperature is given by
Z=23c.45. (187)
Combining these factors, we obtain the pressure outside the
laser channel:
P(Mbar)=96 ; pT
=o 15T3.3E-0.153K-0.46 0
i i -0.153
R L 0 0.15 *
w-9
The pressure in the laser channel can be written as
(n&IT, P(Mbar)= 1.6 hZ ,
where X is the laser wavelength in micrometers. Equating the
two pressures yields
n T, 2 -0.09T;3E,O.‘53K;0.4 & -o’153e
ac A i. ! (190)
Using Eqs. (184) and (190), we obtain the laser-channel den-
sity and temperature:
-0.09
(191)
and
n ~=0.16~‘2/7~-2’7(l,, A)-217~iO.323
(192)
The assumptions used in this model break down for high-2
plasmas when the channel density exceeds about 102’/cm3.
Reemission from the plasma becomes a major factor in the
energy transport and the absorbed laser power required to
maintain a given temperature increases. This fact is the pri-
mary reason that large-scale hohlraums must have low-Z fills
to allow the laser to propagate to positions near the hohhaum
wall, as required for symmetry.
Several interesting conclusions follow from Eqs. (191)
and (192). First, the fraction of critical density in the channel
scales nearly as the product of the laser wavelength squared
and radiation temperature squared. So, for a fixed fraction of
critical density, the achievable radiation temperature is in-
versely proportional to the laser wavelength. Also, at fixed
hohlraum radiation temperature, the channel density is virtu-
ally independent of laser wavelength,’ since critical density
scales as 1/X2. This is seen in numerical calculations when
the channel density remains well below critical density.208
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TABLE V. A pressure balance model-in which inverse bremsstrahlung absorption and electron conduction establish conditions in the laser beam path, and
radiation blowoff establishes conditions outside the laser channel-compares well with a wide variety of LASNEX hohlraum calculations for the hohlraum
plasma conditions.
Conditions in laser channel
Cases examined Pressure (Mbar) n,ln, T, (keV)
Liner or LASNEX LASNEX LASNSX
Energy T, gas fill calculation Model calculation Model calculation Model
Nova (0.35 pm)
20 kI 225 eV Ni 3-4 4.3 0.055-0.075 0.08 3.8 3.6
25 k.I 240 eV CH 4-5 5.5 0.08-0.11 0.12 3.0 2.9
Ignition hohlraum (0.35 pm)
1 MJ 300 ev He gas 4-6 5.5 0.07-0.10 0.10 4-5 3.9
LMF (0.35 pm)
11 MJ 210 eV LiH l-l.2 1.25 0.028-0.04 0.035 2.2-2.5 3.0
The channel temperature is nearly linearly proportional to
the radiation temperature and depends only weakly on laser
energy, the laser wavelength, or the 2 of the channel.
Equations (191) and (192) agree quite well with a vari-
ety of LASNEX calculations, as shown in Table V. For calcu-
lations using this model with liners, the 2 of the liner is used
in calculating the conditions in the laser channel. Gold is still
used for calculating the mass in the channel outside the laser
path, since the total mass of plasma in the hohlraum is still
dominated by the gold blowoff. At 300 eV, the channel den-
sity for NIF hohlraums stays below nln,mO.l. For the tem-
peratures calculated, Landau damping is quite large under
these conditions and plays an important role in the levels of
parametric instabilities. For comparison, Fig. 90 shows con-
tour plots of electron temperature and density at 14.4 ns from
a LASNEX calculation for a NIF hohlraum. This hohlraum
calculation had an initial 0.8 mg/cm3He+H, gas till inside
the hohlraum (see Fig. 106 in Sec. XIII).
Using unsmoothed laser beams, SBS in the low-2 lined
Nova hohlraums used for the pulse-shaped symmetry experi-
ments is about 5% of the incident light.20g Such hohlraums
have extensive regions with nln,=O.l The observed scatter-
ing levels, although not a major energy drain, could impact
hohlraum symmetry if scattering is significant at angles other
than direct backscatter. A major element of the NTC has been
the scaling and control of SBS to the larger plasmas of igni-
tion hohlraums. Equations (191) and (192) can be used to
estimate the scaling of gain for parametric instabilities as
hohlraum radiation temperatures are varied. For SBS in a
homogeneous plasma, the convective gain in the strong
damping limit scales as21o*211
L n/n, 0, -- Qsss=fi2 x T I, ’ & a
where L is the path length through the plasma and ( u,Iw,) is
the ratio of the acoustic wave damping to its frequency. The
damping is primarily Landau damping, which depends on
material composition and the ratio of ion temperature Ti to
electron temperature T, , as shown in Fig. 91(a). For the NIF,
where the ions and electrons have time to nearly equilibrate,
v,lo,=O.2-0.4, depending on how much hydrogen is in the
hohlraum gas fill. The ion acoustic velocity, which is ap-
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 proximated byJ(ZT,+ Ti)lmi, is largely determined by the
electron temperature and the mass mi of the dominant ion
species, while ions near the acoustic velocity provide the
damping. Damping will be strong if the ion temperature is
near the electron temperature, but it will be weak if the ions
are cold. Also, the presence of a low-mass minority ion spe-
cies increases the damping because these ions have a higher
velocity, closer to the acoustic velocity. Hence, hydrogen as a
minority species produces higher damping and lower SBS
gains. ‘12 In the Nova “gasbag” experiments discussed be-
low, plasmas with a significant hydrogen content generally
had time-integrated SBS levels below about l%, while plas-
mas without any hydrogen, such as pure C02, had average
retlectivities as high as 15%-20%, as shown in Fig. 91(b). If
we assume that L scales with the hohlraum radius given by
Eq. (185) and use Eqs. (191) and (192) for n, and T,, we
obtain
Qsss=[X 17/7Eo,.077T,O.172-417~0.359. (194)
Most of the radiation temperature and laser energy depen-
dence of (Lnln,)lT, cancels. Thus, the gain depends on the
radiation temperature through the higher intensity required
for higher radiation temperature. For a fixed laser geometry,
the required intensity scales approximately as c. Thus, the
gain for SBS is a strong function of the radiation tempera-
ture.
The actual situation in a hohlraum plasma is far more
complex than that represented by Eq. (193). Phase mismatch
because of velocity gradients can reduce the gain length, and
laser-beam filamentation can enhance the local intensity
from the average intensity. Also, a variety of coherence con-
trol techniques-including random phase plates-and tem-
poral smoothing-such as smoothing by spectral dispersion
(SSD) developed at the University of Rocheste?’ as part of
the effort to control symmetry for direct drive-can break up
coherent regions in the plasma to reduce the gain length.
Figure 92 shows the focal spot of a Nova beam with and
without a random phase plate. Although the peak speckle
intensities are equally large, with and without a phase plate,
the phase plate reduces the spatial scale of the speckles and
produces a more uniform focal spot distribution. Distributing
the laser energy over multiple frequencies also can be used to
Review Article 3997
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1
0.4
g
0.2
0 0 5 10 15
f W
t t
Ae3keV
Electron temp. B = 4
(f = 14.4 ns) c = 3 c
D=6 -
0.2 0.4
2 (cm) 0
0 0.2 0.4
= (cm)
W
f A = lO’4 W/cm2
B = 3 x 1014
0.4 C = 1015
D~3xlO’~ -
_ _ 5 c 0.2
0
0 0.2 0.4
2 (4
FIG. 90. Ignition-scale hohlraums at peak power have large regions in the laser channel with n/n,=O.l and T,-4-6 keV.
control temporal coherence times. Detailed numerical
models2’3V214 have been developed to study the evolution of The f number of the lens is important because the diatn-
filamentation and SBS in the presence of such complex laser eter and coherence length of the speckles is determined by
beam temporal and spatial characteristics. the f number. A speckle diameter d, is approximately equal
to the diffraction-limited spot for the lens or d,-2 fX. The
(4 , I ( I , , ) , ,
10 r
o.lZ 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Percent hydrogen
FIG. 91. Damping rates for helium-hydrogen mixtures in NIF are larger than for Nova CH mixtures: (a) 50/50 mixture of helium and hy&ogeu consistent
with a 17 K cryogenic target: (b) protons mixed with CO, or C,D,, reduced reflectivity in Nova experiments.
3998 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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FIG. 92. Although speckle intensities are equally large with and without a random phase plate, a phase plate produces a more uniform focal spot distribution,
as shown for a Nova beam.
coherence length of a speckle is approximately the Rayleigh
range for the lens and is given by I,,-8f’X. This effect is
shown in the simulation ‘t4 of an .fl4 beam and an f/s beam
(see Fig. 93). Since filamentation and SBS will grow out of
these speckles, the f number selects the size and coherence
length for the most unstable growth regions in the plasma. If
the spatial growth length for filamentation is greater than the
length of the filaments, then iilamentation is suppressed. This
puts an upper limit on the f number, as given by”3,2*4
*f’s, for NIF,
095)
where G is a factor that accounts for thermal effects. Fila-
ments also will be stabilized if the growth rate y is less than
the bandwidth Ao, or equivalently, A.0 2
w20.0s ~ ,” & G+4X 10-4,
c e
for NIF. (1961
With a phase plate, the SBS signal levels dropped sig-
nificantly in experiments at the University of Rochester, at
Rutherford, and at Ecole Po1ytechnique.2’5-217 Similar ef-
fects are seen in experiments currently being conducted on
Nova. SSD experiments in which phase plates are combined
with up to about 0.15% laser bandwidth have begun on
Nova. Nova also has the ability to propagate four separate
frequencies, separated by up to about 8 A, through a single
beamline. These techniques for beam smoothing can both be
implemented on the NIF. These experiments are being done
with both fl4 and f/S lenses and with a variety of hohlraum
118 f14
500
400
300
200
100
0
FIG. 93. Near “best focus,” the field of a random phase-plate beam consists of long, narrow speckles whose size depends on lens f number and laser
wavelength.
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TWWI
Yarlws bnndwldth o,Wx,r
I cob
1 US besm on No”a
I:/:;/
Fouragment KDP array
SBSthmugh the fans
- Calorlmolfy
- TknrrWdWsd r+mrccpy
FIG. 94. One Nova beam has been converted to approximate the NIF fo-
cusing conditions for measuring SBS. The laser frequency in each of the
four KDP segments can be separated by up to 8 8, (at I w). SSD also can be
implemented.
gas ‘fills. The NIF laser design combines four f/20 beams
propagating together as a single f/X cluster. One beamline of
Nova has been modified to simulate this configuration, as
shown schematically in Fig. 94.
To evaluate the limits to the plasma conditions and laser
intensities for ignition-scale hohlraums, experiments on
Nova are being carried out both in open geometries and in
hohlraums, as shown in Fig. 95. Open-geometry plasmas
with the required dimensions and plasma density are being
investigated by using “‘gasbag” targets,*‘* in which the vol-
ume between two films of polyimide is filled with neopen-
tane, deuterated neopentane, or CO, at about 1 atm. The
gas-tilled hohlraums2’9~220 have a thin (< 1 ,um) plastic mem-
brane covering the LEH and are filled with similar gases.
Figure 96 and Table VI compare the plasma conditions cal-
culated for the Nova experiments and for the NIF hohlraum.
Nine of Nova’s ten beams are used to heat the plasma.
The tenth beam is used as an interaction beam, delayed until
the desired plasma conditions are reached, as shown in Fig.
NIF target
t---gmm~ TABLE VI. Detailed LASNEX calculations show that Nova plasmas are simi-
lar to those expected for the NIF.
Nova NIF
Gas bags Hohhaums Inner cone Outer cone
Path length, f (mm) -2 -2 -3 -2.5
S(n,ln,ldl (mm) -0.2 -0.2 -0.3 -0.15
v,, @m/s) <IO' <IO' <IO' <IO'
L, (mm) >6 >6 210 xl
TiT, 0.1-0.2 0.1-0.2 0.4 0.3-0.4
97. Figures 98 and 99 show calculated and observed 3 keV
x-ray images of the gasbag and hohlraum targets. By about
500 ps, the plasma in the gasbag target is quite uniform. The
hohlraum target, which has a ramped pulse, as shown in Fig.
97, has uniform conditions by about 800 ps. Hohiraum eIec-
tron temperatures are obtained by using x-ray
spectroscopy,22’ as shown in Fig. 100. Electron temperatures
are 3-4 keV, in agreement with LASNEX simulations.
Time-integrated SBS reflectivities are less than 1% from
CJHIz plasmas for both open and closed geometries with f/8
focusing. Figure 101(a) shows the reflectivities for the
gasbag2’* experiments. Peak reflectivities are about a factor
of 2 larger. These levels are well within the goal of having
less than 10% SBS on ignition targets.
The calculated linear SBS gain coefficients Q for the
Nova experiments are comparable to or higher than those of
NIF targets, as shown in Fig. 102. Without nonlinear satura-
tion, the predicted SBS scattering, which scales as eQ would
be larger than that seen in the experiments. Current models
usually include only pump depletion as a saturation mecha-
nism. Additional nonlinear saturation mechanisms, such as
limitations in the magnitude of ion particle-density fluctua-
tions SNIN caused by particle trapping,222 are being evalu-
ated.
A particular issue not addressed by these low-Z plasmas
is the influence of the gold plasma near the hohlraum walI in
the generation of SBS. Although most of the laser pathlength
in NIF targets is through low-Z plasma, there is a 200-300
pm “shelf” of gold plasma with a density of -0.2&a, in
the NIF targets. This scale length is set by inverse brems-
Nova targets
Open geometry
2.5 mm Closed geometry
cyllndrlcal hohlrsum
2.5 mm
---I I---
FIG. 95. Long-scale-length plasma experiments have been performed in both open and closed geometries.
4000 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
Downloaded 26 May 2009 to 199.104.125.63. Redistribution subject to AIP license or copyright; see http://pop.aip.org/pop/copyright.jsp
--- -
0 1 2 3. 4
Distance (mm) - CiasDa
ii f~i ns
= #hlra m tzl ns t 3 14.6 ns
FIG. 96. Detailed LASNEX calculations show that Nova plasmas are similar to those expected for the NE
strahhmg absorption and is about the same for NIF targets
and current Nova hohlraums used for implosions. Although
the scale lengths are small, the density is relatively high, the
velocity gradients are small, and the ion Landau damping is
weak, so that significant reflection, such as was seen in the
COa gasbag plasmas mentioned above, is possible. In fact,
the several-percent levels of SBS seen in the Nova gas-filled
hohlraum symmetry experiments are associated with the gold
wall plasma. The SBS levels in these experiments drop to
about 1% when the gold wall is removed. As was demon-
strated for the CO, plasmas, calculations indicate that the
level of SBS in the gold can be significantly reduced by
doping the gold with a small amount of hydrogen (for ex-
ample, the hydrogen could come in the form of CH, cosput-
tered with the gold when the hohlraum is constructed) or beryllium. Experiments to evaluate this effect will be carried
out on Nova. Initial Nova experiments with alternating 78 A
Au and 32 A Be layers show SBS levels reduced to about
1%.
The scattered-light experiments on Nova have been ex-
tended recently to include Raman-scattered light. These mea-
surements indicate that the level of Raman scatter from
nln,<O.l can be larger than the SBS. For the range of in-
tensities of interest to NIF ignition designs, 5X 1014 to
2X1015 W/cm”, the scattering levels are about 2%-5% with
phase plates and 2 A of SSD as shown in Fig. 101(b). This
level is well within the NIF specification of <15% for ener-
getics. Without SSD temporal smoothing, the level is about
10% at the upper end of the NIF intensity range, but still
only about 2% at the lower end. The higher intensity of about
Targets filled with 1 atm of C&l,,
3 1.1 x lo*’ ems when fully ionized
Volume -12 mm3 for both targets
3 -10 kd to heat to 3 keV
Heating beams
Interaction beam Interaction beam
Interaction beam is delayed until the underdense plasma is heated
FIG. 97. Nine of Nova’s beams are used to produce large scale-length plasmas. The interaction beam is delayed until the underdense plasma is heated.
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 4001
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Suwort washer
850 P* Images
hv > 3 keV 300 ps
LASNEX
post-
processed
images
Expetimentd
pmhole
images
mm -
FIG. 98. X-ray images and calculations show that the long-scale-length plasmas are 152.0 mm in diameter during the time of the interaction beam.
2X lOI W/cm’ applies to 300 eV peak hohlraum tempera-
tures on NIF, whereas the lower intensity applies to 250 eV
hohlraums. Ignition designs exist for both temperatures, but
there is more margin for hydrodynamic instabilities at the
higher hohlraum temperature. Raman scattering from these
low densities produces hot-electron temperatures less than 20
keV The NIF capsules have significant self-shielding for
these energies, so the low-density SRS is not a preheat issue.
The measured Raman scattering is narrowly collimated back
into the f/8 incident lens. This observation is consistent with
numerical calculations using the F3D code,‘13 which integrate
the Raman-scattering equations back through the plasma.
The Raman gain is largest in the beam speckles, which geo-
metrically favor scattering in a narrow backward direction.
Because the SRS is directly back into the lens, this scattering
does not adversely affect symmetry. As determined by high-
energy x-ray measurements, the fraction of laser energy
coupled into hot electrons with a temperature 250 keV, char-
4002 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 acteristic of Raman scattering or the 20~~ instability near
nln,=t, has been consistently less than about 1% for both
the Nova implosion experiments and the large plasma experi-
ments. Preheat from high-energy electrons is discussed in
Sec. XII.
Further work on Nova is planned in order to more thor-
oughly evaluate Raman scattering levels and the role of
laser-beam filamentation. These experiments will help to im-
prove quantification of the range of plasma conditions that
are accessible for ignition experiments.
XII. HOT ELECTRON PREHEAT
Understanding the behavior of Raman instability for ig-
nition hohlraums is important because high-phase-velocity
plasma waves produce very energetic electrons when they
are damped in the hohlraum. These energetic electrons are a
source of preheat, which can raise the fuel adiabat and make
Review Article
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Experiment
800~s L Missing interaction beam Ar and Cl doped gas
/
9 heater beams
Axial image
h\ 23 keV
LASN EX
Interaction beam starts at 600 pS
the fuel less compressible, raising the ignition threshold.
High levels of Raman scattering were the principal limitation
to hohlraum experiments at 1 ,um on the Shiva laser. Above
hohlraum temperatures of 130-to 140 eV, significant levels
of Raman scattering were observed. Preheat in the DT fuel
must be limited to approximately the Fermi specific energy,
ea (see Fig. 3), at the density of the fuel during the implo-
sion. At this level of preheat, the pressure required to achieve
a given density in the fuel doubles. Since the main fuel den-
sity during an implosion varies from a few to about 15
g/cm3, the preheat must be limited to between 1 and 5 X lo5
J/g. This preheating limit also can be expressed in terms of
the fuel entropy, as presented in Sec. IV. If the preheat comes
during the peak-power part of the implosion, while the cap-
sule is at or near the peak ablation pressure, then the fuel is
at the higher density and the higher preheat level is appro-
priate, as assumed below.
The preheat E(x)(J/g) inside an ablator of thickness
x&/cm”) and area A(cm*) caused by a Maxwellian distribu-
tion of electrons with a temperature T,,,(keV) and energy
E,,,(J) is given by 223*224
E(J)=$~‘.~ exp(-1.65y0.4)=EOG(y)r (197) where y =x/x0, where x is the thickness, in g/cm*, of the
ablator. Here x0 is an approximate mean electron range, in
g/cm2, given by
3 x 10-6(A/Z)T;,t
x0= Z’12 09%
where That is the hot-electron temperature in keV and G(y)
is an attenuation factor that occurs because lower-energy
electrons are absorbed in the ablator and do not reach the
fuel. Here G(y) is derived under the assumption that the hot
electrons are not anomalously flux limited. Preheat on
witness-plate experiments on Shiva and Novette226 were
consistent with these assumptions, but these experiments
were not carried out over a wide range of conditions.
Using Rq. (197), we can write the tolerable fraction of
the laser energy into hot electrons as227
fhot= EFMF
W3~)Wsourceha~) ’ (199)
where M, is the fuel mass and EL is the laser energy.
D(rsource/rcap) is a geometric dilution factor for the hot elec-
trons. This factor is significant in hohlraums because the la-
ser beams, where the hot electrons would be produced, are at
some distance from the capsule. If hot electrons are isotropic,
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 4003
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A; and Cl dopants-in gas
Ti/Cr spectrum
from hohlraum -
Cr
He B ~ I “+
5.8 6.2 6.6 7.0
hi WV) Cr Hpr a
TiHea
0
0 0.4 0.8 I.2 1.6 2 2.4
Time (ns]
Hohiraum CrHebfTiHep
r.2b ’ ! ’ ’ LASNEX-l
0.5 1 f.5 2
Time (ns)
FIG. 100. X-ray spectroscopy indicates T,.-- -3 keV for both open and closed geometries.
only those electrons that are in the solid angle subtended by
the capsule will hit the capsule. If we take the average loca-
tion of hot-electron production as the average case radius, the
fraction of hot electrons hitting the case is equal to the ratio
of the capsule area to the case area. Some of the electrons
that miss the capsule will be reflected off the high-Z case and
have another chance to intercept the capsule. For typical
high-Z materials, about 50% of the incident electrons will be
reflected with about 70% of their original energy. For the
discussion below, D =O.l is used. Figure 103 shows the hot-
electron fraction that would result in fuel preheat equal to the
Fermi specific heat as a function of the hot-electron tempera-
ture. The minimum tolerable level, for 40CTh,,G80 keV, is
about fh”t=b%. If these hot electrons come from damping of
plasma waves produced by Raman backscatter, the hot-
electron temperature on the NIF is expected to be 20-40
keV. Raman forward scatter could produce much higher tem-
peratures, but at reduced efficiency. direct-drive capsule have less ablator to provide preheat
shielding for the fuel. Because of both of these factors,
direct-drive capsules are more sensitive to preheat than are
indirect-drive capsules. Figure 103 also shows the tolerable
preheat fraction for a 1.8 MJ direct-drive capsule such as
those now being investigated by LLE.55*228*229 Direct-drive
capsules likely will require an adiabat elevated by a factor of
3-4 over Fermi degeneracy to reduce hydrodynamic insta-
bility, as discussed in Sec. VI. In this case, direct-drive cap-
sules could tolerate a fraction of hot electrons three to four
times larger than indicated in Fig. 103 without further deg-
radation in performance.
Xlil. NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY AND IGNITION
TARGETS
Nova hohlraum experiments with 0.35 pm light have all
had hot-electron levels, based on high-energy bremsstrah-
lung emission, of about 1% or less. This includes the high-
temperature, 300 eV hohlraums and hohlraums with long
pulses. Experiments to measure Raman scattered light di-
rectly have begun on the NIF scale plasmas described in Sec.
XI. The proposed National Ignition Facility (NIF) will use
modern electro-optic technology, compact segmented ampli-
fiers, and multipass laser architecture. Improvements in op-
tical manufacturing will enable optical fluences greater than
2-4 times those used on Nova, substantially reducing the
total laser aperture (and thus cost) required for ignition per-
formance. Figure 104 is a schematic of the NIF from the
recently completed conceptual design report.23o Figure 105 is
a schematic of the NIF target area.
In the case of direct-drive capsules, the beams are ab- The NIF, as currently proposed, is a 192beam,
sorbed in the immediate vicinity of the ablator, so there is frequency-tripled (h=0.35 pm) Nd:glass laser system with
very little geometric dilution of the hot electrons. In addition, routine on-target energy and power of 1.8 MJ and 500 TW,
4004 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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Time integrated SBS reflectivity
0 2 10’5 4 10’5 6 1015
Intensity [W/cm*]
SRS reflectivity at peak Te- 3keV
15
g
*z 10
‘E
8 G
z5
is
0 Lll”‘l”“[J’“~““l”“I”hlll”l~ ,* .:_ ~. :.a\.?.,-‘,; .*
0 2 10’5 6 4015
intensity w/cm*]
FIG. 101. (a) Time-integrated SBS reflectivities are 1% or less in energy
from CsH,, plasmas for both open (gasbag) and closed (hohlraum) geom-
etries with f/S focusing. Shown is the gasbag data. (b) For the range of
intensities of interest to NIF ignition designs, SRS scattering levels are
28-596 with phase plates and 2 A of SSD. Without SSD temporal smooth-
ing, the SRS level is about 10% at the upper end of the NIF intensity range,
but still only about 2% at the lower end.
appropriately pulse shaped.“’ A scientific prototype of one
of the NIF beams, the “Beamlet,” is operational and has
demonstrated most of the NIF laser requirements, including
laser tluence and high-efficiency conversion to 0.35 pm
light. The Beamlet will be used to continue to refine the NIF
laser design before construction is initiated.132.233
The NIF system design requirements given in Table VII
for indirect drive have been determined from the baseline
target shown in Figs. 106 and 107. The hohlraum in Fig. 106
uses 1.35 MJ to drive the 150 kJ capsule in Fig. 107 at 300
eV.
As discussed in Sec. IX, the light coming in each LEH in
Fig. 106 is in two cones, so we can minimize time-dependent FIG. 102. Calculated linear SBS gain coefficients for the Nova experiments
are comparable to those of NIF targets.
asymmetry in the x rays incident on the capsule by dynami-
cally varying the relative brightness of the cones. About a
third of the energy must go into the cones near the target
midplane. The 192 beams are clustered in groups of 4, so
that there are effectively 8 spots in each of the inner cones,
and 16 in the outer cones. Each cluster of four beams com-
bine to form an effective f/S optic.
Each beam is focused to an elliptical spot, which reduces
laser intensity without reducing LEH clearance. The spot has
a shape approximating a flat top (probably a sixth-order
super-Gaussian), again to minimize the peak intensity while
maximizing LEH clearance. The nominal spot is 500 pm by
1000 ,um at best focus. Such a spot can be made with re-
cently developed kinoform phase plate techniques.234~235
The CH ablator in Fig. 107 contains 0.25 at. % bromine
dopant. [The HEP-4 targets discussed in Sec. VI now use
bromine-doped or germanium-doped CH.) The dopant, used
to control the stability of the ablator/DT interface, reduces
the preheat in the CH and eliminates an unstable density step
at the CH/DT interface. As seen on current Nova targets, the
CH is assumed to contain 5% oxygen as an incidental fabri-
cation byproduct.
A convenient way to evaluate the laser requirements for
ignition targets is shown in Fig. 108. For a given hohlraum
10-3
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
fhot WW
FIG. 103. The hot-electron fraction fhat resulting in fuel preheat equal to
Fermi energy varies from <l% for direct-drive ignition capsules to >5%
for the indirect-drive capsules on the NE
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 4005
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Cpntrol room
FIG. Beam deliiery
system I i
I Ffi3quency-
conversion
Tat&et
chamber crystals
104. The NIF is being designed to produce 1.8 MJ of 0.35 pm laser light with 500 TW for defense applications and inertia1 fusion ignition. The NIF
be able to explore ignition with both indirect-drive and direct-drive targets.
temperature T,, Eq. (92) specifies the relationship between
laser power and laser energy. Using the 11% hohlraum cou-
pling efficiency calculated for the NIF hohlraum in Eq. (92),
we obtain the set of curves labeled at different hohlraum
temperatures in Fig. 108. Laser plasma coupling will limit
the achievable hohlraum temperature. From Eq. (192), at 400
eV for the long pulses required for ignition capsules, the
hohlraum plasma will approach nln,=$. Based on the hohl-
raum experimental results at 1 ,um, this is probably an upper-
limit temperature for ignition hohlraums. (For short pulses
with reduced plasma filling, it should be possible to achieve
higher temperatures.) We now are limiting peak hohlraum
temperatures to about 300 eV, which limits the plasma den-
sities to n/n, ~0.1, as shown in Fig. 90.
The minimum capsule energy is proportional to T;4.5,
as given by Eq. (87). With a surface finish of about 10 nm,
we require a margin in energy of about 1.5 above this mini-
mum to ignite with the resultant mix. With a 100 nm surface
finish, we require about a factor of 3 above the minimum
energy. This gives the pair of curves, at these two different
capsule surface finishes, which cut across the hohlraum tem-
perature curves. Combining Eqs. (87) and (92), for a con-
stant surface finish of 10 nm, gives
4006 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 will
Plaser(TW)= 285@,2,MJ). (200)
The region between the NIF laser design performance
and the intersection of the achievable hohlraum temperature
and achievable capsule surface finishes defines the operating
space for ignition targets. We have evaluated a variety of
capsules and hohlraums within this region, as indicated by
the dots on Fig. 108. Most of the target analysis236-z8 has
focused on the baseline 300 eV hohlraum and capsule shown
in Figs. 106 and 107. Because this target design (referred to
as the PT design) operates near the expected maximum hohl-
raum temperature, it is a good design to evaluate the laser
power requirements. Also, because the laser-plasma cou-
pling is more of an issue at the higher temperatures, as indi-
cated in Sec. XI, it is important to investigate the high-
temperature designs in detail. At 1.35 MJ, this point design is
below the 1.8 MJ, 500 TW NIF laser design performance,
and above the ignition energy minimum. This design allows
for uncertainty in both laser-capsule coupling efficiency and
ignition threshold.
The one-dimensional (1-D) capsule simulations de-
scribed next are done with the LASNEX code,5’ using PN
radiation transport,239 equations of state calculated in line
Review Article
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FIG. 10.5. The NF target area is configured for accessibility and ease of maintenance for both laser operations and target experiments.
with a “Quotidian EOS” mode1,240 and average-atom XSN
opacities.a4r Other radiation-transport schemes predict the
same capsule performance. As a source for implosion calcu-
lations, non-Planckian frequency-dependent radiation was
determined from hohlraum simulations. The spectrum used
affects the short-wavelength hydrodynamic instability
growth. Other than this effect, which can change perturbation
amplitudes by about a factor of 2, the spectrum has little
effect on target characteristics. The deposition of a particles
produced by the burn is normally calculated with the multi-
group diffusion’42 model in LASNEX. Calculations243 of the
PT capsule using a Monte Carlo charged-particle transport
mode124 produce ignition and burn that are essentially the
same as produced by multigroup charged-particle diffusion. tainties in opacity and equation of state, adequate shock tim-
ing may not be predictable a priori, but it is achievable with
an experimental program that uses techniques currently
available on Nova.‘08-“0~‘49
The capsule in Fig. 107 can tolerate moderate deviations
from the optimal radiation temperature profile shown in Fig.
106. For example, Fig. 109 shows the yield as the early-time
foot and peak drive temperatures are varied.
The pulse shape shown in Fig. 106 creates four shocks.
The final shock brings the ablator up to peak pressure with
sufficiently low DT entropy, as previously shown in Fig. 37.
The entropy requirement implies a corresponding require-
ment on pulse-shaping precision. For optimal performance,
the shocks must be timed within about 200 ps. Given uncer- A lower temperature capsule design is shown in Fig.
110. This capsule was designed with a beryllium ablator,
which develops a somewhat higher ablation pressure since it
has a lower albedo in this temperature range. Hence, the
capsule absorbs more flux at a given temperature, as dis-
cussed in developing equation (137). This is important at the
lower temperature. Figure 111 shows the sensitivity of the
beryllium capsule to pulse-shape variations. A higher-
temperature foot to the pulse results in an overall shorter
pulse but puts the capsule on a higher adiabat. This reduces
the ignition margin and makes capsule performance more
sensitive to hydrodynamic instabilities, the resultant mix, and
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 4007
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TABLE VII. Functional requirements for the indirect-drive NIF laser design.
Energy (measured at the entrance
hole of the hohlraum)
Peak power
Wavelength
Pulse shape
Duration
Dynamic range
-Continuous
-Discrete
Capsule irradiation symmetry 1.8 MJ
500 Tw
0.35 ,um
Continuous or discrete pulses
20 ns
5o:l
lo:1
Hohlraum illumination:
Geometry: 2 concentric cones
from each side
Beamlet energy balance
Beamlet pointing accuracy
Prepulse
Pulse simultaneity
Spot size
Beam smoothness Cone angles: 27’ and 52’
Beamlet distribution:
3 on outer cone
{on inner cone
8% RMS
50 ym
< 10’ W/cm2
<30 ps
500 pm at the laser entrance hole
Kinoform phase plates at the output
Centerline frequencies separated nominally by
1 nm at 1 o in each beamlet of a 2X2 array
2X2 array of beamlets superimposed on target to
control intensity fluctuations averaged over a 30 pm
circle and 10 ps to less than 25% of average intensity
small deviations in the pulse. The shorter duration pulse in
Fig. 111 is almost a direct geometric scale of ps22 used in
most of the Nova symmetry experiments discussed previ-
ously. For the set of curves with the lower-temperature foot,
the stepped temperature pulse and the middle continuous
pulse give equivalent capsule performance.
The initial gas-fill density in the capsule, which can be
controlled by varying the temperature of the cryogenic fuel,
can be used in turn to control the capsule’s convergence ra-
tio, and hence its sensitivity to flux asymmetry. Figure 112
shows the result of varying the initial fill on the convergence
ratio for the 300 eV baseline CH capsule. The yield de-
creases as the initial gas fill is increased because the total
fuel pr decreases. With a CH ablator, the convergence ratio
can be decreased approximately from 35 to 25 before the
yield drops below 1 MJ. With a 300 eV beryllium ablator
capsule, the convergence ratio can be reduced further to
about 20, as shown in Fig. 112.
As discussed previously, Nova capsules are made largely
from plastic. A CH ablator was chosen for the baseline NIF
capsule because developing, characterizing, and filling NIF
capsules from this material would be more straightforward
by means of techniques similar to those already developed
for Nova capsules. Techniques are now being evaluated to
develop high-quality beryllium shells. nonuniform, differential cooling will result in a higher sur-
face temperature and a higher sublimation rate at the thicker
part of the layer. Condensation will occur preferentially on
the thinner and cooler parts of the layer. This technique pro-
duces uniform layers, but the surface quality of the layers
depends on many variables that are still being investigated.
Calculations indicate that the cryogenic layer must have a
RMS surface finish of 0.5 ,um or less in spectral modes be-
low L-30. Current estimates from cylindrical player experi-
ments carried out jointly by Los Alamos and LLNL indicate
that a /3 layer will have a surface roughness about 2-4 times
larger then this.247 However, experiments also indicate that
additional heating (either from Joule heating of free electrons
in the DT driven by a microwave power source or from
infrared absorption in the rotational and vibrational absorp-
tion bands of DT) can improve uniformity to the required
level.248 This latter technique also should apply to DD layers,
which will be required for a variety of diagnostic experi-
ments.
All NIF targets require about a 100 pm cryogenic layer
of DT. The physics and technology of thick cryogenic layer
formation are quite complex. A prime candidate for thick
layer formation is called /3 layering.245*246 Because of tritium
,G decay, DT fuel produces heat at about 1 W/g. If a capsule
partially filled with solid DT is held at uniform temperature,
the DT will tend to form a uniform layer. If the layer is Alternatively, a uniform layer may be produced by ap-
plying a temperature gradient to a liquid cryogenic layer.24g
Because both surface tension and evaporation rates are tem-
perature dependent, it is possible under some conditions to
obtain a uniform layer by adjusting these two properties with
an appropriate temperature gradient.
In a final technique, a low-density foam is used as a
matrix for the cryogenic fuel layer.250 A foam-filled fuel layer
has a higher ignition temperature, which depends on the
foam density and material composition. Hence, most foam
designs require a thin layer of pure DT on the inside of the
foam to aid ignition.
The Omega Upgrade laser will be used as a test bed for
4008 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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0 5 10 15 20
Ttme (ns)
. Outer cone
Thickness > 30 pm
8urtace flnlsh I 0.08 wm PTV
H+0.25% Br+!f% 0
solld
V DT gas
0.3 mg/cm3
Capsule yield 15 MJ
FIG. 106. Most of our modeling has concentrated on a 300 eV target, which
absorbs 1.35 MJ of light.
developing targets with thick cryogenic layers. These experi-
ments will begin in 1998.
As discussed in the Introduction, initiation of a self-
sustaining burn wave constitutes ignition in ICE
Beyond a threshold implosion velocity for a given cap-
sule size, P dV work can compress the hot spot to the pr
and temperature at which a-particle deposition can initiate a
burn wave. This occurs when the hot spot’s central tempera-
CH + 5% 0 + 0.25% Br
1.11 mm
Solld D .95 mm Peak Tr
0.87 mm In-flight aspect ratio
Distance moved/AR
DT
\/ 0.3 mg/cms hip Convergence ratio
Peak P
V Total ir
Tolerates surface finish (PTV, Nova capsule spectrum)
Tolerates mlx penetratlon
Yield 300 eV
40
25
4.1 x 10’ cm/s
36
1200 g/cm3
1.5 g/cm2
8ooA
91wn
15 MJ
FIG. 107. A CH capsule is our ignition point design, and its features deter-
mine the requirements for symmetry, stability, and ignition. Hohlraum physks aoe*plahl-
Atal energy (M?)
FIG. 108. For ignition targets, plasma-physics issues constrain the achiev-
able hohhaum temperatures, and hydrodynamic instabilities establish the
minimum required temperature. The shaded region constitutes the accessible
region in power and energy space, where ignition with indirect-drive cap-
sules is predicted.
ture reaches about 10 keV with a pr of 0.2-0.3 g/cm2, as
described in Sec. III. For NIF-scale capsules, threshold ve-
locity is expected to be 3.5-4.0X lo7 cm/s.
Ignition results in a rapid increase in yield as implosion
velocity is increased gradually beyond the ignition threshold
velocity. Experimentally, the implosion velocity can be in-
creased, while keeping the fuel on the same isentrope, by
varying the peak drive temperature at the end of the pulse or
by varying the length of the pulse.
As shown in Fig. 113 for the PT capsule, without
a-particle deposition and the resulting burn propagation, NIF
targets are expected to produce no more than lo-100 KJ,
whereas a target with ignition and successful burn propaga-
tion will produce l-20 MJ of thermonuclear energy, depend-
ing on capsule and hohlraum design.
Below a burn-averaged temperature of about 3 keV, neg-
ligible a-particle deposition occurs, and the observed in-
crease in fusion yield with implosion velocity follows that
expected for the purely hydrodynamic increase in the fusion
cross section. By the time the fuel temperature doubles due
to o-particle deposition, the fusion burn rate has increased by
an order of magnitude or more beyond what could be
achieved with pure hydrodynamic compression. Target per-
formance below a central temperature of a few keV will
provide an experimental baseline for determining the purely
hydrodynamic increase in fuel temperature as a function of
implosion velocity against which the measured departure due
to a-particle deposition can be determined.
0
mot temperalure (W
FIG. 109. The NIF capsule point design readily tolerates 6% swings in peak
or foot temperatures (25% changes in flux).
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 4009
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Surface finish 5 0.06 pm PTV
Be, r-dependent
V DT gas
0.3 mg/cm3
Capsule absorbs 180 kJ,
yields 14 MJ
FIG. 110. A capsule with 250 eV peak drive provides a different tradeoff
between hydroinstabilities and laser-plasma effects. A slightly higher-
energy capsule can be driven by the same laser since the peak power re-
quirement is lower. Beryllium is a superior ablator material at 250 eV. This
design can tolerate surface perturbations of -600 A, compared to -800 8,
for CW300 eV (both peak-to-valley, within the range of current Nova cap-
sules). The peak intensity drops from 2X10’5-7X10’4 W/cm*, which re-
duces the gain for laser-plasma instability. The convergence ratio is about
the same as for a CH capsule at 300 eV.
A complementary set of experiments could be done with
a nonigniting fuel layer. For example, above or below some
ratio of D to T, the targets will not ignite at any implosion
velocity reached on the NIF. Assuming a comparable cryo-
genic layer quality and a slightly revised pulse shape to ac-
count for initial fuel density differences, a curve of yield
versus implosion velocity with a nonigniting fuel mixture,
normalized for cross section differences, would provide an
additional baseline for comparison with the ignition experi-
ments. Changing the D to T ratio could affect a cryogenic
layering process, which would complicate direct comparison
with the 50150 DT case. For example, p layering will not
work with a pure D2 fuel layer but might work with a pure or
nearly pure Tz layer.
The NIF baseline capsule designs absorb 150 kJ, of
which about 25 kJ ends up in the compressed fuel. As shown
in Fig. 113, the central temperature gets to about 10 keV
when the capsule has produced -400 kJ. Therefore, ignition
occurs when the fuel energy gain is about 16, or when the
a-particle deposition is about three times the initial energy
delivered to the compressed fuel. Since the NIF baseline tar-
gets are expected to yield up to 15 MJ, these targets would
4 1 MJ
150
F
3
CL 100
50 50
0 250-eV Be capsule
0 5 10 15
t (ns) ‘e capsule
1
FIG. 111. Total pulse length can be varied by adjusting the power in the foot
of the pulse. The capsule fails when the foot power is greater than about 130
eV because the fuel adiabat is too high. Nominal 0.3 mg/cm3
- 40
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
Initial gas density (mg/cm3)
FIG. 112. Capsule gas fill provides direct control of convergence ratio.
Increasing the initial gas fill reduces convergence ratio (and yield).
have a fuel energy gain of about 600. A factor of 5-10
higher-energy gain is required for ICF energy production, as
discussed in Sec. XIV. ICF target gain requirements can be
compared to the Ml% power gain Q discussed in the Intro-
duction.
The general approach to modeling the effects of hydro-
dynamic instabilities on ignition capsules was described in
Sec. VI. The ignition targets are designed to remain in the
linear or weakly nonlinear regime. Because of this, instabil-
ity modehng is based on linear analysis that is as accurate as
possible, with an extension into the weakly nonlinear regime
=i 1
3
”
$ 0.1
0.01
0 I I I I I I
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1
Multiplier on peak flux
FIG. 113. Ignition could be diagnosed as an increase in yield and neutron-
width bum temperature as drive is varied.
4010 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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as necessary. The linear analysis is based on a decomposition
of the surface perturbations into spherical harmonics, which
are eigenmodes of the linear evolution. Single-mode growth
is determined by running many 2-D simulations, each of one
single mode in the linear regime throughout the simulation.
This provides the most accurate calculation of all known
effects, including ablation and density-gradient stabilization,
Richtmyer-Meshko? growth, and convergence effects.
This set of calculations, combined with a nonlinear satura-
tion model,‘31 provides a spectrum of growth factors, as
shown in Fig. 48 for the PT capsule. These growth factors
are combined with an assumed initial surface spectrum to
determine the ignition time perturbation.
To test the weakly nonlinear analysis, full simulations of
multimode perturbations with realistic initial amplitudes are
also run. Currently, simulations must be 2-D, and the number
of modes that can be included is limited. A variety of multi-
mode simulations have been run on several capsules, at solid
angles ranging from relatively small conic sections to half-
spheres. Results are consistent with this modeling, although
further substantiation is an area of current work. Recent de-
velopment of 3-D codes will allow testing of possible differ-
ences between 2-D and 3-D evolution.252
The effects of these perturbations on the hot spot are
evaluated in a variety of ways. The unstable interface is be-
tween relatively cold, dense DT and the hot, lower-density
DT of the hot spot. Material mixing of different elements
does not occur, only thermal mixing. The actual perturba-
tions are 3-D and multimode, and the weakly nonlinear per-
turbation growth analysis indicates that the spectrum is
strongly dominated by modes around I= 10-20, as shown in
Fig. 48. The 3-D character cannot be fully represented in any
existing code; available 3-D codes do not include all of the
relevant physical processes. There is 3-D calculationalZ2 and
experimentalz5” evidence that the multimode 3-D perturba-
tion is probably an array of spikes penetrating in toward the
hot-spot center surrounding approximately hexagonal
bubbles. The effects of perturbations on the hot spot have
been modeled in two dimensions in five ways.
ti)
@>
(iii)
(iv)
W A single bubble of appropriate solid angle surrounded
by a curtain of spikes falling along a reflecting bound-
ary condition. The circular cone approximately repre-
sents a multifaceted 3-D cone of similar size and
gross shape.
Perturbations with the opposite sign; i.e., a spike on
axis surrounded by a circular bubble.
Perturbations on the waist that represent long circular
ridges and curtains.
The multimode 2-D simulations mentioned above,
continued through burn time.
One-dimensional modeling in which the thermal mix-
ing caused by the perturbation growth is represented
as an enhanced thermal conductivity in the perturbed
region.
All of these approaches give similar results as to how
large a spike can be tolerated before ignition is quenched: the
spikes penetrating the hot spot can be lo-15 ,um in ampli-
tude (for the PT), compared to a hot-spot radius of 30 pm.
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Combined with the modeling described above, this corre-
sponds to a maximum tolerable initial ablator surface rough-
ness of 50-80 nm RMS. This is to be compared with 20-30
nm RMS surface finish on current Nova capsules.
Analysis of the bubble penetration from the outside of
the shell gives a surface-finish requirement for shell integrity
during acceleration that is comparable to that for ignition.
This equivalence depends weakly on the shape assumed for
the spectrum of initial perturbations.
The modeling described so far pertains to surface pertur-
bations that are initially on the outside of the ablator. Of
course, there will be perturbations on the other interfaces, as
well as material inhomogeneity and other fabrication defects.
Any of these can be modeled in a conceptually identical way,
using LASNEX simulations based on the assumption that the
perturbation of interest exists. These calculations predict that
the capsule tolerates perturbations initially on the other inter-
faces, which are much larger than tolerable perturbations ini-
tially on the outside. Perturbations on the DT/CH interface
are very unlikely to be large enough to matter. Perturbations
on the DT gas/solid interface need to be smaller than about
0.5 pm.
Currently, the best way to model radiation transport and
coupling efficiency in ICF hohlraums is with detailed 2-D
calculations using a radiation-hydrodynamics code. The cal-
culations described here use LASNEX, with detailed radiation
transport for the hohlraum/capsule coupling. The simulations
are continued all the way through burn. The simulations
track the laser beams, calculating inverse bremsstrahlung en-
ergy deposition and any refraction that occurs. The calcula-
tions typically use XSN non-LTE multigroup opacities,241
although simulations with an opacity table derived from the
STA opacity model are also done.‘46 Any coupling to the
capsule via hydrodynamic pressure or electron conduction is
included.
Adequate symmetry and near 1-D burn performance has
been achieved in such integrated simulations for a variety of
designs at several sizes, including the PT, and beryllium de-
signs driven at 250 and 300 eV. Figure 114 shows the 1-D
and 2-D yield and burn temperature for the PT target and
targets scaled from this design. The 1-D results are from
hydrodynamically scaled targets with the required laser en-
ergy given by E(MJ) = 1. 35s3, where s is the spatial scale
factor compared to the PT.
To model asymmetry resulting from imperfect power
balance and pointing of me laser beams, we must estimate
the effects of fully 3-D asymmetry. This asymmetry and its
effects have been modeled in a variety of ways. The asym-
metry can be estimated analytically, using laser spot bright-
nesses and positions determined from the 2-D LASNJZX simu-
lations. Also, the asymmetry can be calculated in three
dimensions with a view-factor code. We have used fully in-
tegrated calculations, as described above, to confirm the
modeling and for some sensitivity studies. The actual 3-D
asymmetry on the capsule must be estimated with 2-D simu-
lations of the implosion driven with an asymmetric radiation
source.
Calculations have been carried out with a wide variety of
asymmetries on 2-D capsule implosions to ensure that the
Review Article 4011
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Yield
WJ)
and ion
tamp
Wvt - = ID capsule simulations
l o = Integrated simuiations of full target
(MJ)
1.0 1.5
Input laser energy (MJ)
FIG. 114. Scales of the point design ignite above about 700 kJ. For the I-D
capsule simulations, capsule dimensions and times are scaled by s, and the
effective laser energy is given by EC&J)= 1.35~~. where s=l is the IT
design. For the integrated hohlraum and capsule simulations. dimensions
and times are proportional to s, and powers are proportional to s*.
specified asymmetry levels are acceptable. Asymmetry can
affect ignition in a variety of ways: the obvious kinematic
effects of differing velocities; initiation of RT instability
growth, especially evident during deceleration; mass flow to-
ward less-driven regions, seeding RT instability; irregular
hot-spot compression, sometimes forming jets that protrude
from the core and disrupt the imploded configuration, as dis-
cussed in Sec. IX; and delayed ignition, resulting in more RT
growth.
The maximum tolerable asymmetry depends on temporal
and spatial specifics. In detailed simulations, a P, asymme-
try that varies between +4% (constant until switching) and
-4% (for the duration of the pulse) produces a marginally
acceptable implosion. (In this, and in all of the following, the
P, coefficient is quoted so that the peak-to-valley asymmetry
in flux is 1.5 times the number quoted.) If the switching time
is chosen so that the average asymmetry is zero, the im-
ploded configuration is, on average, round but shows a jet.
With a swing from +2% to -2%, the asymmetry is small. In
this case, the peak pressure generated in the fuel (when no
thermonuclear bum is allowed) is reduced by about 12%
compared to a perfectly spherical implosion. The yield (in a
bum-on simulation) is not reduced by the asymmetry.
It is worth noting that, in this simulated implosion with a
“2% time-dependent asymmetry, the shell is as much as 10
pm out of round while at radii between 500 and 100 pm. It
is as much as 10% out of round (AR= 10 ,um for R= 100
pm) toward the end of the implosion. This degree of asym-
metry in the implosion could be measured with a backlighted
imaging diagnostic similar to those that have been used on
Nova. As mentioned in the Sec. IX discussion on time-
dependent asymmetry, the roundness of an imploding shock
in a foam shell can be determined on Nova to -2 pm reso-
lution.
The jetting asymmetry effect is maximized (at a given
percent of peak flux asymmetry) by having the asymmetry be
constant for the first part of the pulse and then switching to 10 RsdlaUvs &I-’ 300
I 1mperatur* (OV) ,‘- 250
FIG. 115. With a constant power ratio (35% inner cone, 65% outer cone),
NIF targets exhibit time-varying asymmetry in the P, and P, Legendre
moments of flux. In detailed 2-D calculations, ignition capsules with this
degree of time variation ignite and give yields near those seen for spherical
implosions with uniform radiation drive. This degree of temporal variation
in flux uniformity is near the maximum tolerable and would be reduced by
“beam phasing” in which the power fraction in the inner and outer cones is
varied in time.
another constant value, with the opposite sign, for the re-
mainder of the pulse. For that kind of time dependence, the
baseline NIF capsule can tolerate 4% P, asymmetry, as de-
scribed above. Typical detailed 2-D calculations have a more
gradual variation in asymmetry with a lower average pertur-
bation for a given peak, as indicated in Fig. 115.
If the period of the symmetry swings is shorter, such as
would be the case in an experimental program that was de-
signed to obtain a uniform average flux over some fraction of
the implosion, still larger symmetry swings are tolerable. For
example, with a P2 of the form
Adt)=Adt)~20 sin[w(t-tu)], (201)
where A,(t) is the total flux, w=2?r/(2 ns) (a 2 ns period),
implosion symmetry is tolerable with e20 larger than 10%.
The time to must be such that the average asymmetry is
about 1%. When f. is changed, the principal effect we see is
the change in the average P,. If the sinusoidally time-
dependent asymmetry is too large, the failure mechanism for
this short-duration asymmetry is a jet coming from the center
of the implosion outward, as a result of irregular shock con-
vergence in the center, rather than the azimuthal mass varia-
tion seen for the longer duration asymmetry described above.
Although NIF hohlraums certainly have time-dependent
asymmetry, current detailed 2-D integrated calculations of
NIF targets indicate that, with optimal placement of the two
rings of laser beams per side, the time dependence is mar-
ginally toIerable for ignition targets, even without indepen-
dent time histories for the individual rings. Figure 115 shows
the time-dependent asymmetry for the E’T target, with the
two cones on each side having a constant power ratio. In this
case, 35% of the laser power is in the inner ring and 65% is
in the outer ring. The capsule in this integrated calculation
achieved nearly the yield obtained in a perfectly spherical
implosion, However, the time variation shown in Fig. 115 is
near the maximum tolerable. Independent control of the
4012 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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0 Peak max allowable
1 0 r 1 1 I I
0 5 10 15 20 25
Power balance uncertainty (% RMS)
FIG. 116. Beam-to-beam energy balance errors can be as large as 15% if
beamlet-to-beamlet fluctuations are uncorrelated.
power ratio in the separate rings, or “beam phasing,” would
be used to reduce the time-dependent asymmetry, as de-
scribed in Sec. IX.
Since LEH effects and laser spot motion from refraction,
wall blowoff, and laser-plasma interaction are the primary
causes of time-dependent asymmetry, the issue for the NIF is
whether uncertainty in these variations could lead to a failed
implosion. Experimental measurements of the wall loss and
laser spot position on Nova can establish the time-dependent
asymmetry to a few percent, as discussed in Sec. IX. Similar
experiments can be done on the NIF. As indicated in Fig.
115, this is well within the tolerable level of time variation
for NIF capsules. Further, as described in Sec. IX, several
techniques are being developed on Nova that would apply to
the NIF for directly measuring the time-dependent asymme-
try onto the capsule.
We do not find very much variation in sensitivity to
asymmetry among the various targets we have designed.
Smaller capsules are slightly more sensitive to asymmetries
that couple to deceleration RT growth. The difference is not
large, and symmetry sensitivity is not an issue that is impor-
tant in deciding the overall tradeoffs of laser size and power.
Varying the hohlraum size, with a given capsule, is the sym-
metry issue likely to be more important in the tradeoffs.
Three-dimensional Walle code’80*254 view factor calcula-
tions, as shown in Fig. 116, indicate that 10% Rh4S power
imbalance between the beamlets results in less than 1%
asymmetry at any given time on the capsule, provided the
deviations are uncorrelated among the 192 beams. If the
power imbalance varies in time, the tolerable power imbal-
ance at any particular time can be much larger than this,
depending on its time dependence. If correlations exist be-
tween the beams’ powers, a much tighter power-balance re-
quirement is necessary. For example, groups of eight corre-
lated beams, with each group going into the same area of the
hohlraum, must be balanced within about 3%. This increased
precision requirement is consistent with the assumed reduc-
tion in the number of statistically independent power histo-
ries. Since the pulse shape can be adjusted for each of the
192 beamlets in the NIF design, any power variations should
be statistical.
These requirements on the laser are well within current
Nova performance parameters of 3% RMS energy imbal-
ance, and 5%-10% power imbalance over time scales that
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 tg 0.8 -
s 5 0.6 - ii 2?p ----
: $ 0 cL4 -
0.2 -
LT SB o Foot
l Peak
,------m-w
2 0 J Max tolerable
-----..--m^mmm-_
0 Oo 0
0. l l
.
OOM 200
Pointing uncertainty (pm, RMS)
FIG. 117. Pointing errors can be as large as 200 pm RMS without degrading
symmetry significantly.
are generally less than half the pulse length.“’ This does not
mean that symmetry in Nova hohlraums is as good as in NIF
hohlraums; the looser requirements for NIF are a result of the
larger number of beams.
Three-dimensional Walle view factor calculations indi-
cate that with nominal pointing errors-each beam is to point
within 50 w RMS of its nominal position, as specified in
Table VIII-the resulting additional asymmetry on the cap-
sule will be significantly less than 146, as shown in Fig. 117.
This pointing specification also ensures more than adequate
clearance of the LEH. This requirement is similar to that met
by the Nova laser (30 ,um RMS on Nova”’ is 10 wad, but
50 pm RMS on NIF is 7 prad because of the longer focal
length).
Both view factor and 2-D detailed integrated calcula-
tions have been carried out to evaluate the sensitivity of sym-
metry to changes in hohlraum geometry and beam cone po-
sitions. Table VIII gives the results for the view factor
calculations, which are generally consistent with the analyti-
cal analysis presented in Sec. IX.
Figure 118 shows an example of the 2-D sensitivity de-
termined from the integrated calculations, in this case for a
beryllium-ablator target driven with a step laser power pro-
TABLE VIII. Several parameters are available to control symmetry with
two cones of beams.
P2 (%)* P4 (%)
Power balance inner versus outer
change inner power/outer power by 5% Foot 1.7 -0.4
Peak 1.0 -0.1
Hohlraum aspect ratio (fixed hohhaum area
and LEH, beams central in LEH)
Make hohlraum 100 pm longer Foot 1.8 I.6
Peak 1.6 0.7
Make hohhaum 100 w longer and use Foot *.. 2.0
power to correct P, change Peak a** 0.8
Outer beam pointing
Move spots 100 pm out Foot 1.2 1.2
Peak 1.2 0.5
Inner beam pointing
Move spots 100 pm out Foot 1.4 -1.2
Peak 0.9 -0.5
“Estimates made using the Walle 3-D view factor radiation transport code.
Review Article 4013
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12.
10
z*
g 6,
4,
2.
I I I I I I
-400 -200 0 200 400 600
Change in SZparation of spots (AS, pm)
FIG. 118. Integrated calculations are being used to confirm acceptable sen-
sitivity to pointing. Laser ring separation controls P,. The pointing sensi-
tivity is large enough that we can use it to control P, but small enough for
the specified pointing accuracy.
file. The target can tolerate beam movement of the average
ring location of 2200 pm, well outside the expected devia-
tion, given the pointing specification on the laser.
Figure 119 shows that the integrated calculations of the
PT target can tolerate significant variations in the peak power
pulse length at two hohlraum lengths, which differ by 400
pm.
Asymmetries might also arise from laser-plasma inter-
action processes, or other phenomena such as RT instability
at the Au/He interface, which are currently predicted not to
be significant, but for which uncertainty remains. Light can
be scattered, or it can be absorbed more or less efficiently at
different positions in the hohlraum. The effect in all cases is
equivalent to a power balance change, a movement of the
x-ray emission spots, or perhaps a spreading of the laser
deposition spots (for small-angle side scattering). Difficulties
could arise only if these effects are so large that their irre-
producible part is larger than the limits described above. If
any of these processes occur but are reproducible and not too
large, the effect can be mitigated by changing the hohlraum
design parameters. Estimates based on Nova experiments de-
scribed in Sec. XI and modeling indicate that these processes
can be kept within acceptable limits. If we cannot do this for
the 300 eV ET target, our ultimate recourse will be to in-
crease the hohlraum size, reduce the laser intensity, and cor-
hpln I.ml,
amqYlW *--,- ---e
,I 1.37
1.25
JY-1 0.1 ,/I “ohlmml length -1.WMl - -t.occnl
0, I I I
5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0
Main pulse FWHM (ns)
FIG. 119. Integrated calculations indicate that the high-power main pulse
length can be varied by more than 0.5 ns.
4014 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 respondingly reduce the hohlraum drive temperature to the
250 eV design, which has significantly less plasma, as dis-
cussed in Sec. XI.
The remaining uncertainties can be mitigated with
changes in the target design that will be made after further
Nova experiments, or after the NIF experiments begin. Some
of the uncertainties that we have evaluated include the fol-
lowing.
(9
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(VI
(vi) A factor of 2 in hydrodynamic instability growth
(equivalent to a factor of 2 in surface finish or a factor
of 2 in the acceptable size of the bang-time perturba-
tions) shifts the ignition cliff from 0.8 to about 1.0
MJ. Improvements in surface finish could probably
recover the original margin.
The combined uncertainties in x-ray conversion and
hohlraum wall loss (energy) are less than about 20%.
Stimulated Brillouin scattering should be only a few
percent, based on the experiments described in Sec.
XI.
Depending on the accuracy of the 2-D integrated cal-
culations, achieving the correct power balance be-
tween the inner and outer cones of beams may require
reducing the power in one or the other so that it can-
not run at its full power. This may result in a net
energy loss of lo%-15%.
An error in hohlraum optimization that requires in-
creasing the LEH radius 50% would require an in-
crease in laser energy of 15% to regain the same hohl-
raum temperature.
Similarly, increasing the hohlraum area by 35% in-
creases the required laser energy by 15%.
Several other uncertainties are energetically insignifi-
cant. For example, the equation of state and opacity of the
CH ablator are sufficiently uncertain that we expect to adjust
the details of the pulse shape phenomenologically, but this
will not significantly affect the performance requirements of
the laser, or the target performance.
These errors, in combined effect, are consistent with the
factor-of-2 margin provided by a 1.8 MJ, 500 TW laser.
Based on all available data and detailed simulations, 1.8 MJ
should be adequate for ignition.
Although indirect drive is the primary approach to igni-
tion on the NIF, developments in direct drive have reached
the point where this approach also looks quite promising.
With the implementation of additional beam smoothing and
more beam ports on the target chamber, the NIF can be con-
figured to be capable of both indirect and direct drive. Figure
120(a) shows a schematic of the NIF target chamber with the
48 beam ports configured for indirect drive. By adding 24
more ports, as indicated in Fig. 120(b), and implementing
2-D SSD beam smoothing, the NIF would achieve the beam
smoothing currently estimated by LLE55 to be required for
direct drive. The NTF will be able to shift rapidly (61 day)
between these two geometries if a movable turning mirror is
inserted in the NIF switch yard and the additional hardware
required for the 24 new beam positions is installed.
Review Article
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(a) NIF ID beam geometry
(b) NIF DD beam geometry
I
FIG. 120. The NIF target area beam geometry: (a) NIF baseline target area
uses 48 clusters of 4 beams configured for indirect drive; (b) NIF target area
building and beam transport system can be reconfigured for direct drive by
switching 24 of the 4-beam clusters to alternate positions.
XIV. INERTIAL FUSION ENERGY
Experiments and analysis conducted over the course of
nearly two decades of research have allowed us to establish
the hydrodynamics, radiation transport, x-ray production re-
quirements, and the plasma-physics limitations of indirect
inertial fusion using laser drivers. A demonstration of igni-
tion and bum propagation would set the stage for high-
confidence development of the applications of ICF, including
inertial fusion energy (IFE).
Because of their potential efficiency, durability, and rep
rate, the NASz6 FPAC,34 and FEAC?’ reviews concluded
that, of the current ICF drivers, heavy-ion drivers have the
greatest potential for future inertial fusion power plants. For
both laser-driven and ion-driven indirect drive, the capsule is
radiation driven so that the capsule implosion and bum phys-
ics are the same. If the ion-driven hohhaums are heated to
the same radiation temperature T, , then the requirements for
hydrodynamic instability, implosion uniformity, and pulse
shaping to drive the capsule can be applied directly. In addi- tion, at the same radiation temperature, x-ray hohlraum wall
losses, radiation-driven hohlraum wall motion, and radiation
transport are also directly applicable. Because these are the
primary issues that affect coupling efficiency and hohlraum
symmetry, the laser-driven hohlraum physics program pro-
vides a solid base for calculating heavy-ion (HI) hohlraums.
Clear differences exist between HI and laser hohlraums,
as indicated in Fig. 6. For example, unlike HI hohlraums,
laser-driven hohlraums have holes that affect symmetry, and
lasers must contend with laser-plasma parametric instabili-
ties and spot motion, which limit hohlraum plasma condi-
tions.
In current NIF hohlraums, temporal and spatial control
of the power is used in a large number of beams to control
hohlraum symmetry, whereas in the HI hohlraum in Fig. 6,
only two radiators are used. As stated earlier, this geometry
is attractive from the point of view of fusion chamber
design3* because it is compatible with a variety of protected-
wall fusion chambers. Symmetry is obtained by adjusting the
internal structure and shape of the hohlraum.723255 The HI
hohlraum in Fig. 6 controls P2 asymmetry by controlling the
size, shape, and position of the shield directly inside of each
radiator, such as in the Nova experiments described in Figs.
78 and 79. Higher-order components to asymmetry, except
for P,, are controlled by having a relatively large hohlraum.
For hohlraum designs that attempt to maximize coupling ef-
ficiency, control of P4 is also required. That is accomplished
by an additional shield, as shown in Fig. 6. By using the data
and calculational techniques developed for laser-driven hohl-
raums, it is possible to calculate the impact of the geometric
differences between ion and laser hohlraums. To test the
transport issues directly, it is also possible to do laser experi-
ments with geometries that mock up HI hohlraums.
The physics of ion stopping in hot matter and x-ray pro-
duction from a volume-heated radiator are unique to ion
hohlraums. Ion stopping in hot matter has been studied by
many investigators. 35*36 The physics is believed to be well
understood, and the experiments to date,“56 although not at
the required matter temperature, match theory. The body of
data being developed in the light ion program conducted at
Sandia National Laboratories is being extended to higher
matter temperatures as the ion-beam intensity on the PBFA II
machine is increased. If Sandia is successful in raising the
intensity from the current 1-2 TW/cm” to about 5 TW/cm*,
PBFA II should be able to reach temperatures of 100 eV. An
investigation of a wide range of beam-plasma
instabilities,Z7 which could be driven by the ion beam as it
propagates through the low-density target corona, also has
failed to uncover any mechanism that could transfer a sig-
nificant fraction of the beam energy.
Simulations of the absorber/radiator geometries shown
in Fig. 12 1 indicate that an x-ray conversion efficiency of
50%-80% can be achieved under appropriate conditions.37
Ion beams generally are absorbed in a relatively low-2 ma-
terial that heats up and then radiates like a blackbody if the
radiator has an optical depth approximately equal to a Planck
mean-free path. The energy balance equation for an ion beam
can be written as
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 4015
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(a)
Front
shield 1
‘0
J
160
o%bYk-A- Time (ns) cu!50 1O:O Gel’
I
4o 0.1 I I
0 . 2 0.3 0.4
2.5
2.4
2.2
2.0 I-
I-
L Focal spot radius (cm)
10 20 30 40
Time (ns)
RG. 121. With properly designed radiation converters, heavy-ion beam energy can be efficiently converted to x rays.
da dEk
I=R dt --$ x+(T,T;I, (202)
where R is the ion range in g/cm2, E is the specific energy of
the absorber, and E, is the kinetic energy of expansion of the
absorber. The heat capacity term, R( d eldt), which is propor-
tional to the temperature T,, is the dominant term at low
temperature. At high temperature, the radiative term domi-
nates. The kinetic-energy term generally can be made small
by appropriate choice of absorber material. If the intensity is
too low, the absorber material never heats up sufficiently to
become an efficient radiator before the pulse ends. At high
intensity, the absorber heats up quickly and then radiates
very efficiently. The intensity required for efficient conver-
Ion range I 0.05 g/cm*
2w1 sion increases as the range increases because the longer
range resuits in a higher heat capacity of the absorber and a
longer time before radiation becomes efficient.
Figure 121 shows the results of calculations for a spe-
cific radiator geometry. In these calculations, the x-ray power
required by a target was specified. As the ion-beam range
and focal-spot size varied, the ion-beam power also was var-
ied to achieve the required x-ray power.
Figure 122 shows the calculated gains (as a function of
ion-beam focal-spot radius for two typical HI ranges} for
targets with the geometry shown in Fig, 6. The gains given in
Fig. 122 are based on an analytical model258 for the various
elements of the ion-beam-driven hohlraum. As indicated,
Ion range 5 0.1 g/cm*
I I I I
.”
1 2 4 6 10
Driver energy (Ml) 1 2 4 6 10
Driver energy (MJ)
FIG. 122. Energy production using indirect-drive, heavy-ion targets may be feasible with a driver of 2-3 MJ.
4016 Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article
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these gain curves have used capsules with drive temperatures
that vary in the way specified by Eq. (87), with a factor of 2
allowance for nonideal effects. The wall-loss model follows
that given by Eq. (124), and the modeling of the radiator
components is similar to that given by Ho.37 Detailed 2-D
integrated radiation-hydrodynamics calculations, using the’
modeling techniques developed for the Nova experiments
and the NIF hohlraums, are being carried out. Initial
calculations”59 of this type have achieved a gain of 50 at 8
MJ. Refinements of these calculations are expected to dem-
onstrate gains comparable to those in Fig. 122.
As shown in Fig, 122, gains are critically dependent on
the spot size of the ion beam when it is focused on the target
radiators. This dependence arises from the energy required to
heat the material in the x-ray converters to a temperature at
which they will radiate efficiently. As the ion range de-
creases, less mass is heated at a given spot size. This results
in a higher gain for a given spot size or a larger tolerable spot
size for a given gain. As the range decreases, the radiators
cover an increasing fraction of the hohlraum surface area.
For some designs, such as those being pursued by Sandia for
light ions and some recent HI target designs,260 the ion
beams cover the entire surface of the target. Such designs are
feasible because the range of relevant ions is much greater
than the thickness of high-2 material needed to contain the
radiation. An optimal thickness exists for the high-Z case
that comes from trading off (1) ion-beam energy lost as the
ions penetrate and heat the case and (2) radiation contain-
ment. In general, such target designs have lower gain than
that given in Fig. 122 for the two radiator designs.
The optimal choice of focal-spot size and range is
largely an accelerator issue because targets with adequate
gain are feasible over a wide range of these choices. In de-
signs with larger spot size and lower intensity, the accelerator
must be able to transport more current, and the focusing
system must be able to focus more current, or the beams
must be partially neutralized. Designs such as those shown in
Fig. 6 are the current baseline HI designs because the longer
range ions, which have lower beam current for a given driver
energy, can be ballistically focused without current or charge
neutralization. Ballistic focusing is well understood theoreti-
cally, although effects such as photoionization of the incom-
ing beam by target x-ray emission must be addressed,a6i and
it provides HI target point designs with a high-confidence
focusing approach. This is viewed as important because of
the present lack of data to conclusively support the feasibility
of charge-neutralization schemes for focusing.
This situation could change because of work being done
in the light- and heavy-ion beam programs to investigate
charge-neutralization schemes. Beams being produced by the
pulsed-power, light-ion beam machines have inherently high
current and must rely on current and charge-neutralized fo-
cusing schemes.‘“2 The theoretical understanding being de-
veloped for these schemes, and the experiments being carried
out and planned can provide the information required to base
HI designs on neutralized focusing.
Since the ability to achieve the required beam intensity
is the central issue for both HI and light-ion drivers, depend-
ing on the outcome of focusing and transport experiments, the optimal design for HI accelerators may well be ones that
have higher-current, lower-energy beams and targets that can
accept a lower intensity. The optimal accelerator architecture
also could end up being a hybrid between today’s light-ion
machines with a single-step particle acceleration and the con-
ventional HI accelerator concepts with a very large number
of acceleration steps.
The following discussion of specific drivers is taken
largely from the article by Hogan, Bangerter, and
Kulcinski.38
There are two main approaches to HI drivers: radio fre-
quency (RF) accelerators and induction accelerators. Physi-
cists in Europe and Japan are studying the RF accelerator
because of their large body of experience with the many
existing high-energy physics accelerators. Physicists in the
United States are examining the induction accelerator be-
cause of its simplicity and ability to handle high-current
beams. In such accelerators, space-charge-dominated beams
are accelerated periodically by induction cells and trans-
ported by a sequence of alternating-gradient quadrupoles.
HI-driven target chambers have the advantage that no
material object important to beam propagation or focusing
need be in a direct line of sight with the target. The beams
can be bent out of the direct path with magnets that are
themselves out of the line of sight. Line-of-sight “get lost”
(nonreflective and nonscattering) dumps handle the x rays,
neutrons, and debris, while fast-closing valves and differen-
tial pumps isolate the accelerator vacuum from the vapors in
the target chamber.
Central to the economics of any inertial fusion power
plant is the fusion cycle gain.38 The fusion cycle gain is the
product of the driver efficiency 71 (the ratio of the energy
delivered to the target and the energy supplied to the driver),
the target gain G (the ratio of the thermonuclear yield and
the driver energy), the nuclear energy multiplier A4 (the en-
ergy change due to neutron reactions, principally in the
lithium-bearing blanket used to produce tritium), and the
thermal-to-electric energy conversion efficiency E. In any in-
ertial fusion power plant, the net electricity P, is related to
the gross electricity P, through the power balance equation:
P,=P,-Pa-Pd=Pg(l-fa-lhjGAk), NW
where P, is the power used for auxiliary equipment and
f a = P,IP, is typically a few percent of the gross electricity.
Here P, is the driver power, and the driver’s recirculating
power fraction PdIP, is the reciprocal of the fusion cycle
gain ?JGME.
Since the nuclear energy multiplier M is typically 1.05-
1.15, and the conversion efficiency E is typically 0.35-0.45,
the product gG must be greater than about 10 to keep the
recirculating power fraction below 20%-25%. If the recircu-
lating power fraction much exceeds this fraction, the cost of
electricity escalates rapidly.
Because of their projected high efficiency, HI accelera-
tors can tolerate a significant uncertainty in the target gain
that is ultimately achievable. HI accelerators are projected to
have efficiencies of 20%-35%, and point designs for giga-
watt reactors use drivers of 5-7 MJ. Figure 122 shows
clearly that, in this range, HI-driven targets can tolerate a
Phys. Plasmas, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1995 Review Article 4017
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drop in gain of a factor of 2 or more and still meet the VG
requirements for energy production if the ion beam can be
focused to a radius of 2-3 mm. This target margin is com-
parable to that of the NIF, which is being designed with
approximately a factor-of-2 margin in energy, as indicated in
Fig. 108. This margin is considered adequate, given the cur-
rent state of knowledge about laser indirect-drive targets. HI
targets should not have a larger uncertainty than laser targets,
because part of the NIF margin is to account for uncertainties
in coupling efficiency due to plasma-physics effects as the
laser propagates through the hohlraum. Ion-beam targets will
not have this problem. For ion beams, the primary uncer-
tainty is the spot size achievable with a given accelerator
design. It is generally believed that a conservative accelera-
tor could be designed that would achieve the desired spot
size with high confidence. However, the cost impact of such
a conservative design could make energy production unat-
tractive. The purpose of the HI driver development program
funded by the Office of Fusion Energy (OFF), is to deter-
mine the requirements of an accelerator that would deliver
the required beam power, energy, pulse shape, and focal spot
at minimal cost.
Pulse-power technology can compress large quantities of
electricity into reasonably short pulses efficiently and at rela-
tively low cost. In a light-ion accelerator, an electrical pulse
of the required energy is progressively shortened by a variety
of pulsed-power techniques. The ions are generally acceler-
ated in a single step, although multigap light-ion accelerators
have been proposed. As stated earlier, obtaining the required
focused intensity is the major challenge for light-ion beams.
Laser drivers also have been identified that are candi-
dates for fusion energy production. Diode-pumped solid-
state lasers (DPSSL) and KrF lasers both have the potential
efficiency and rep rate required for power production.
Solid-state lasers initially were discounted for fusion en-
ergy production because of the characteristics of flashlamp-
pumped Nd:glass lasers-in particular, their inefficiency and
low pulse rate. However, the diode-pumped, gas-cooled,
solid-state laser may overcome these problems.263T264 One
current candidate is an InGaAs diode array and an ytterbium-
doped fluorapatite crystal-Yb:Ca,(PO,)sF. The estimated
wall-plug efficiency of such a laser could exceed 10%. For a
DPSSL to be economical, the cost of the diode arrays must
decrease from a current cost of between $1 and $10 per peak
watt to between 1~ and lo@ per peak watt when they are
produced in volume. The DPSSL laser has an attractive de-
velopment path because it is highly modular, like the NIF.
All of the operational features of the laser can be demon-
strated at an aperture scale of only lo-15 cm.
In excimer lasers using gases such as KrF, the gaseous
lasing medium is pumped by an electric discharge or an elec-
tron beam. The lasing gas flows through heat exchangers to
remove waste heat. The 0.26 ,um wavelength and broad
bandwidth of KrF lead to good coupling to the target. The
use of the KrF laser is complicated by its very short sponta-
neous emission lifetime-that is, it does not store energy in
the excited state for times longer than the desired extraction
time. Thus, for good efficiency, light must be extracted dur-
ing the entire pumping time. The anticipated pumping time, as dictated by pulsed-power requirements, is several hundred
nanoseconds. Therefore, the pulse must be shortened by
about a factor of 100 by using such techniques as angular
multiplexing, in which short seed pulses pass through the
amplifier sequentially for the entire duration of the pumping,
each at a slightly different angle. These beams are then trans-
ported through paths of different lengths so they arrive at the
target simultaneously. Recent studies265.266 of KrF lasers
found net wall-plug efficiencies of 6%-8%.
The relatively low efficiency of both DPSSL and KrF
lasers puts a premium on high target gain in order to achieve
an vG-10. As indicated by Fig. 7, the gain for indirect-
drive targets is inadequate for a KrF laser unless the hohl-
raum coupling efficiency can be increased. The indirect-drive
gain is marginal for the DPSSL laser, even at a driver energy
of 10 MJ. The higher gains projected for direct drive, as
shown in Fig. 44, are marginal for K.rF and adequate for
DPSSL lasers. If the effects of hydrodynamic instabiiity are
less severe than currently estimated, direct-drive target gains
could be higher. The durability of optical components facing
the neutrons, x rays, and debris from the fusion explosion
also poses a major challenge for lasers. Since the NIF will be
configured to test both indirect drive and direct drive, it will
be able to test both target options for laser-driven IFE.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A significant number of the references in this review are
to Livermore or Los Alamos internal documents that are not
yet publicly available (listed as “unpublished” in the refer-
ence list), but many are in the process of review for declas-
sification as a result of the December 1993 decision by DOE
to declassify large portions of the U.S. ICF Program. As in
any large scientific undertaking, the work reported here re-
quired the efforts of many hundreds of people who are not
mentioned in this document. In addition, for this document, I
have had to select a small subset of the work on indirect
drive that has been carried out over the past two decades.
Most of the laser technology and diagnostic development
required for the analysis and experiments discussed here is
not covered at all, but that information is publicly available
in other reports.
This work was performed under the auspices of the US.
Department of Energy by the Lawrence Livermore National
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