Using helium as a surrogate fill gas for deuterium in fusion experiments can be convenient to avoid flammability hazards in an experiment. To test the degree of equivalency between deuterium and helium, experiments were conducted in the Pecos target chamber at Sandia National Laboratories.
Observables such as laser propagation, energy deposition, and signatures of laser-plasma-instabilities...
Recent progress in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion has considerably improved the prospects for achieving thermonuclear ignition with direct illumination. When hydrodynamically scaled to laser energies typical of the National Ignition Facility, recent OMEGA implosions are expected to produce over 800 kJ of fusion yield and 80% of the Lawson triple product required for ignition at 2 MJ...
The use of seed magnetic-fields (B-fields) in laser-driven target-compression experiments may lead to > 10 kT B-fields across the compressed core due to advection of the in-flow plasma. B-fields exceeding 10 kT are promising for magneto-inertial fusion since they reduce electron thermal conduction perpendicular to the field lines and may even increase alpha-particle energy deposition in the...
Wetted-foam layers are of significant interest for ICF capsules, due to the unprecedented control they provide over the convergence ratio of the implosion, and the opportunity this affords to minimize hydrodynamic instability growth. However, the equation of state (EOS) for fusion relevant foams is not well characterized, and many simulations therefore rely on modelling such foams as a...
Metallic hollow nanoparticles exhibit interesting optical properties that can be controlled by geometrical parameters [1]. Moreover, irradiation with laser pulses has emerged recently as a valuable tool for reshaping and size modification of plasmonic metal nanoparticles, thereby enabling the synthesis of nanostructures with unique morphologies. In this work, we demonstrate how we can use the...
