Oxford Centre for High Energy Density Science (OxCHEDS)

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The Vulcan Petawatt interaction facility

Inertial Fusion Sciences and Applications 2003 (2004) 512-516

Authors:

CN Danson, PA Brummitt, J Collier, RJ Clark, M Dominey, CB Edwards, R Edwards, AJ Frackiewicz, JAC Govans, S Hancock, PE Hatton, S Hawkes, CR Heathcote, C Hernandez-Gomez, P Holligan, C Hooker, MHR Hutchinson, A Jackson, A Kidd, WJ Lester, J Monk, D Neely, DR Neville, P Norreys, M Notley, DA Pepler, MR Pitts, CJ Reason, D Robinson, KJ Rodgers, D Rose, IN Ross, AJ Ryder, MR Selley, D Shepherd, T Strange, M Tolley, R Wellstood, GN Wiggins, TB Winstone, PNM Wright, RWW Wyatt, BE Wyborn, C Ziener

Abstract:

The Vulcan Nd:glass laser at the Central Laser Facility (CLF) has recently been upgraded to the Petawatt level (10 15 Watts). The facility is now operational to the UK and international user community. During the first user experiments, the power and focussed intensity were increased gradually up to the Petawatt regime. Considerable experience has been gained operating the Vulcan facility in this mode. The Petawatt facility is designed to deliver irradiance on target of 10 21 W.cm -2 for a wide-ranging experimental programme in fundamental physics and advanced applications. This includes the interaction of super-high intensity light with matter, fast ignition fusion research, photon induced nuclear reactions, electron and ion acceleration by light waves and the exploration of the exotic world of plasma physics dominated by relativity.

Vulcan petawatt - An ultra-high-intensity interaction facility

Nuclear Fusion 44:12 (2004) S239-S246

Authors:

CN Danson, PA Brummitt, RJ Clarke, JL Collier, B Fell, AJ Frackiewicz, S Hancock, S Hawkes, C Hernandez-Gomez, P Holligan, MHR Hutchinson, A Kidd, WJ Lester, IO Musgrave, D Neely, DR Neville, PA Norreys, DA Pepler, CJ Reason, W Shaikh, TB Winstone, RWW Wyatt, BE Wyborn

Abstract:

The Vulcan Nd: glass laser at the Central Laser Facility is a Petawatt (1015 W) interaction facility available to the UK and international user community. The facility came online to users in 2002 and considerable experience has been gained operating the Vulcan facility in this mode. The facility is designed to deliver irradiance on target of 1021 W cm-2 for a wide-ranging experimental programme in fundamental physics and advanced applications. This includes the interaction of super-high-intensity light with matter, fast ignition fusion research, photon induced nuclear reactions, electron and ion acceleration by light waves and the exploration of the exotic world of plasma physics dominated by relativity.
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Plasma devices to guide and collimate a high density of MeV electrons

Nature Springer Nature 432:7020 (2004) 1005-1008

Authors:

R Kodama, Y Sentoku, ZL Chen, GR Kumar, SP Hatchett, Y Toyama, TE Cowan, RR Freeman, J Fuchs, Y Izawa, MH Key, Y Kitagawa, K Kondo, T Matsuoka, H Nakamura, M Nakatsutsumi, PA Norreys, T Norimatsu, RA Snavely, RB Stephens, M Tampo, KA Tanaka, T Yabuuchi
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Spectroscopy of astrophysical plasmas in the laboratory

Astronomy & Geophysics Oxford University Press (OUP) 45:6 (2004) 6.18-6.21

Authors:

FP Keenan, SJ Rose
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Molecular-dynamic calculation of the inverse-bremsstrahlung heating of non-weakly-coupled plasmas

Physical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics 70:5 2 (2004)

Authors:

N David, DJ Spence, SM Hooker

Abstract:

The inverse bremsstrahlung (IB) heating rates of a plasma as a function of density and laser intensity were calculated using a molecular dynamic (MD) code. The code belonged to the class of particle-particle-particle-mesh codes. The equations solved by the MD code avoided several assumptions which were inherent to alternative methods. The results of the MD code were compared to previous results for plasmas of low coupling. The results of the calculations for dense, moderately coupled plasmas were also presented. An analytic expression for the IB heating rate, based on a fit to the rates calculated by MD code, was also presented.
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