In-flight measurements of capsule shell adiabats in laser-driven implosions
A L Kritcher1, T Döppner, C Fortmann
1Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California 94551, USA.
Abstract:
We present the first x-ray Thomson scattering measurements of temperature and density from spherically imploding matter. The shape of the Compton downscattered spectrum provides a first-principles measurement of the electron velocity distribution function, dependent on T(e) and the Fermi temperature T(F)∼n(e)(2/3). In-flight compressions of Be and CH targets reach 6-13 times solid density, with T(e)/T(F)∼0.4-0.7 and Γ(ii)∼5, resulting in minimum adiabats of ∼1.6-2. These measurements are consistent with low-entropy implosions and predictions by radiation-hydrodynamic modeling.
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