Oxford Centre for High Energy Density Science (OxCHEDS)

Abstract:

A method for generating non-uniformly spaced (chirped) trains of high-energy, high-contrast, femtosecond pulses is described and demonstrated. In this method a temporally stretched laser pulse is passed through an acousto-optic programmable dispersive filter (AOPDF), a birefringent plate, and a linear polarizer. It is demonstrated that linear and nonlinear variation of the pulse separation within the train may be controlled by changing respectively the third-and fourth-order dispersion introduced by the AOPDF. Programmable, non-uniform pulse trains of this type may find applications in quasi-phase matching high-harmonic generation. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Abstract:

We present the progress made in developing 10PW OPCPA facility for the Vulcan laser to produce pulses with focused intensities >1023 Wcm-2. This power level will be delivered by generating pulses with >300J in 30fs. These pulses will be delivered to two target areas: in one target area they will be combined with the existing Vulcan Petawatt beamline and a new target area will be created for high intensity interactions. © 2010 Optical Society of America.

Abstract:

Heating of the target core for fast ignition by electron beams is investigated by two-dimensional collisional particle-in-cell simulations. It is found that the electron beams emitted from the core surface with the initial energy of 1.4MeV, 2.4MeV, and 4.2MeV can heat most efficiently the core with ρr = 0.75g/cm2, 1.5g/cm2, and 3g/cm2, respectively, when taking ρ 300g/cm3, where ρ and r are the mass density and radius of the core, respectively. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Abstract:

We have conducted experiments on both the Vulcan and Titan laser facilities to study hot electron generation and transport in the context of fast ignition. Cu wires attached to Al cones were used to investigate the effect on coupling efficiency of plasma surround and the pre-formed plasma inside the cone. We found that with thin cones 15% of laser energy is coupled to the 40μm diameter wire emulating a 40μm fast ignition spot. Thick cone walls, simulating plasma in fast ignition, reduce coupling by x4. An increase of pre-pulse level inside the cone by a factor of 50 reduces coupling by a factor of 3. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Abstract:

An experiment designed to launch laser-ablation-driven shock waves (10 to 70 Mbar) in a planar liquid-deuterium target on the OMEGA Laser System and to diagnose the shocked conditions using inelastic x-ray scattering is described. The electron temperature (Te) is inferred from the Doppler-broadened Compton-downshifted peak of the noncollective (αs = 1kλD > 1) x-ray scattering for Te > T Fermi. The electron density (ne) is inferred from the downshifted plasmon peak of the collective (αscatter > 1) x-ray scattering. A cylindrical layer of liquid deuterium is formed in a cryogenic cell with 8-μm-thick polyimide windows. The polyimide ablator is irradiated with peak intensities in the range of 1013 to 10 15 W/cm2 and shock waves are launched. Predictions from a 1-D hydrodynamics code show the shocked deuterium has a thickness of ∼0.1 mm with spatially uniform conditions. For the drive intensities under consideration, electron density up to ∼5 × 1023 cm -3 and electron temperature in the range of 10 to 25 eV are predicted. A laser-irradiated saran foil produces Cl Ly αemission. The spectrally resolved x-ray scattering is recorded at 90° for the noncollective scattering and at 40° for the collective scattering with a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) crystal spectrometer and an x-ray framing camera. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.