Inference of ICF Implosion Core Mix using Experimental Data and Theoretical Mix Models*

The mixing between fuel and shell materials in Inertial Confinement Fusion implosion cores is a topic of great interest. Mixing due to hydrodynamic instabilities can affect implosion dynamics and could also go so far as to prevent ignition. The goal of this work was to design direct-drive ICF experiments on OMEGA which have varying levels of mix, and subsequently to extract information on mixing directly from the experimental data using spectroscopic arguments. The experimental design was accomplished using hydrodynamic simulations and Haan's and Youngs' mix models, which make it possible to predict the mix levels of each experimental platform. These theoretical predictions were then compared to the information on mixing which was extracted from the experimental data. We aim to increase our confidence in the methods used to extract mixing information from experimental data, as well as to assess the range of validity and predictive capability of the mix models.