Oxford Centre for High Energy Density Science (OxCHEDS)

Abstract:

Understanding the effects of radiative transfer in High Energy Density Physics experiments is critical for the characterization of the thermodynamic properties of highly ionized matter, in particular in Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF). We report on non-Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium experiments on cylindrical targets carried out at the Omega Laser Facility at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, Rochester NY, which aim to characterize these effects. In these experiments, a 50/50 mixture of iron and vanadium, with a thickness of 2000 Å and a diameter of 250 μm, is contained within a beryllium tamper, with a thickness of 10 μm and a diameter of 1000 μm. Each side of the beryllium tamper is then irradiated using 18 of the 60 Omega beams with an intensity of roughly 3 × 1014 W cm−2 per side, over a duration of 3 ns. Spectroscopic measurements show that a plasma temperature on the order of 2 keV was produced. Imaging data show that the plasma remains cylindrical, with geometrical aspect ratios (quotient between the height and the radius of the cylinder) from 0.4 to 2.0. The temperatures in this experiment were kept sufficiently low (∼1–2 keV) so that the optically thin Li-like satellite emission could be used for temperature diagnosis. This allowed for the characterization of optical-depth-dependent geometric effects in the vanadium line emission. Simulations present good agreement with the data, which allows this study to benchmark these effects in order to take them into account to deduce temperature and density in future ICF experiments, such as those performed at the National Ignition Facility.

Abstract:

We calculate the Thomson scattering cross section in a nonrelativistic, magnetized, high-density plasma—in a regime where collective excitations can be described by magnetohydrodynamics. We show that, in addition to cyclotron resonances and an elastic peak, the cross section exhibits two pairs of peaks associated with slow and fast magnetosonic waves; by contrast, the cross section arising in pure hydrodynamics possesses just a single pair of Brillouin peaks. Both the position and the width of these magnetosonic-wave peaks depend on the ambient magnetic field and temperature, as well as transport and thermodynamic coefficients, and so can therefore serve as a diagnostic tool for plasma properties that are otherwise challenging to measure.

Abstract:

We present solutions of the radiative transfer equation for cylinders, hollow hemi-ellipsoidal shells and tori for a uniform plasma of fixed geometry. The radiative transfer equation is explicitly solved for two directions of emission, parallel and perpendicular to the axis of symmetry. The ratio between the fluxes in these two directions is also calculated and its use in measuring the frequency resolved opacity of the plasma is discussed. We find that the optimal geometry to use this ratio as an opacity measurement is a planar geometry.

Abstract:

The design of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments, alongside improving the development of energy density physics theory and experimental methods, is one of the key challenges in the quest for nuclear fusion as a viable energy source [O. A. Hurricane, J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 717, 012005 (2016)]. Recent challenges in achieving a high-yield implosion at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) have led to new interest in considering a much wider design parameter space than normally studied [J. L. Peterson et al., Phys. Plasmas 24, 032702 (2017)]. Here, we report an algorithmic approach that can produce reasonable ICF designs with minimal assumptions. In particular, we use the genetic algorithm metaheuristic, in which “populations” of implosions are simulated, the design of the capsule is described by a “genome,” natural selection removes poor designs, high quality designs are “mated” with each other based on their yield, and designs undergo “mutations” to introduce new ideas. We show that it takes ∼5 × 104 simulations for the algorithm to find an original NIF design. We also link this method to other parts of the design process and look toward a completely automated ICF experiment design process—changing ICF from an experiment design problem to an algorithm design problem.