https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2006-00111-6
The first target experiments on the National Ignition Facility
1
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, CA, 94550, USA
2
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87544, USA
3
Atomic Weapons Establishment, Chilton, UK
4
Sandia National Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM, 87185, USA
5
Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique, Bruyères-Le-Châtel, France
6
Laboratory for Laser Energetics, Rochester, NY, 14623, USA
7
Bechtel Nevada, Livermore, CA, 94550, USA
Corresponding author: a landen1@llnl.gov
Received:
3
January
2006
Revised:
18
February
2006
Published online:
18
May
2006
A first set of shock timing, laser-plasma interaction, hohlraum energetics and hydrodynamic experiments have been performed using the first 4 beams of the National Ignition Facility (NIF), in support of indirect drive Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) and High Energy Density Physics (HEDP). In parallel, a robust set of optical and X-ray spectrometers, interferometer, calorimeters and imagers have been activated. The experiments have been undertaken with laser powers and energies of up to 8 TW and 17 kJ in flattop and shaped 1–9 ns pulses focused with various beam smoothing options. The experiments have demonstrated excellent agreement between measured and predicted laser-target coupling in foils and hohlraums, even when extended to a longer pulse regime unattainable at previous laser facilities, validated the predicted effects of beam smoothing on intense laser beam propagation in long scale-length plasmas and begun to test 3D codes by extending the study of laser driven hydrodynamic jets to 3D geometries.
PACS: 52. – Physics of plasmas and electric discharges / 52.57.-z – Laser inertial confinement / 52.38.-r – Laser-plasma interactions
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2007
