First Indirect Drive Experiment Using a Six-Cylinder-Port Hohlraum

Area of Science:

• * Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF)
• * High-Energy-Density Physics

Background:

• * Traditional ICF research often utilizes cylindrical or spherical hohlraums.
• * Laser facilities designed for specific hohlraum geometries may have limitations for other configurations.

Purpose of the Study:

• * To introduce and validate a new experimental platform and quasi-3D simulation model for indirect drive experiments.
• * To investigate the performance of a six-cylinder-port hohlraum at a laser facility primarily designed for cylindrical hohlraums.
• * To assess the feasibility of using this configuration for ignition-scale ICF studies.

Main Methods:

• * Development of a novel hohlraum experimental platform and a quasi-3D simulation model.
• * Conducting implosion experiments using a six-laser-entrance-hole hohlraum at the 100 kJ Laser Facility.
• * Utilizing a 2 ns square laser pulse with approximately 80 kJ energy.

Main Results:

• * Achieved a peak hohlraum radiation temperature of ~222 eV.
• * Inferred a high x-ray conversion efficiency of ~87%, comparable to cylindrical hohlraums.
• * Demonstrated low laser backscatter, similar to the outer cone of a cylindrical hohlraum.
• * Quasi-3D simulations accurately reproduced radiation temperature, M-band flux, and yield-over-clean variations.

Conclusions:

• * The developed platform and model successfully enable indirect drive studies with a six-cylinder-port hohlraum.
• * This configuration effectively utilizes all laser beams from the facility, demonstrating its potential for ICF research.
• * The findings are crucial for numerically assessing laser energy requirements for ignition-scale hohlraums.