Bulletin of the American Physical Society
58th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics
Volume 61, Number 18
Monday–Friday, October 31–November 4 2016; San Jose, California
Session NI2: Stix Award and ICF: Implosion StagnationInvited
|
Hide Abstracts |
Chair: Sean Regan, University of Rochester Room: 210 CDGH |
Wednesday, November 2, 2016 9:30AM - 10:00AM |
NI2.00001: Stix Award Talk: Hot spot mix in ICF implosions on the NIF Invited Speaker: Tammy Ma In the quest to achieve ignition through the inertial confinement fusion scheme, one of the critical challenges is to drive a symmetric implosion at high velocity without hydrodynamic instabilities becoming detrimental. These instabilities, primarily at the ablation front and the fuel-ablator interface, can cause mix of the higher-Z shell into the hot spot, resulting in increased radiation loss and thus reduced temperature and neutron yield. To quantify the level of mix, we developed a model that infers the level of hot spot contamination using the ratio of the enhanced x-ray production relative to the neutron yield. Applying this methodology to the full ensemble of indirect-drive National Ignition Facility (NIF) cryogenically layered DT implosions provides insight on the sensitivity of performance to the level of ablator-hot spot mix. In particular, the improvement seen with the High Foot design can be primarily attributed to a reduction in ablation-front instability mix that enabled the implosions to be pushed to higher velocity and performance. \\ \linebreak \\ \acknowledgements This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344, Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC. [Preview Abstract] |
Wednesday, November 2, 2016 10:00AM - 10:30AM |
NI2.00002: Impact of temperature-velocity distribution on fusion neutron peak shape Invited Speaker: David Munro Doppler broadening of the 14 MeV DT and 2.45 MeV DD fusion neutron lines has long been our best measure of temperature in a burning plasma. At the National Ignition Facility yields are high enough and our neutron spectrometers accurate enough that we see finer details of the peak shape. For example, we can measure the shift of the peak due to bulk motion of the plasma, and we see indications of non-thermal broadening, skew, and kurtosis of the peak caused by the variations of temperature and fluid velocity during burn. We can also distinguish spectral differences among several lines of sight. This talk will review the theory of fusion neutron line shape, show examples of non-Gaussian line shapes and directional variations in NIF data, and describe detailed spectral shapes we see in radhydro implosion simulations. [Preview Abstract] |
Wednesday, November 2, 2016 10:30AM - 11:00AM |
NI2.00003: Effects of inhomogeneity at stagnation in 3D simulations of ICF implosions Invited Speaker: Brian Appelbe The stagnation phase of an ICF implosion is characterized by a hotspot and dense fuel layer that are spatially and temporally inhomogeneous. Perturbation growth during the implosion results in significant asymmetry at stagnation while the hotspot size, density and temperature change rapidly, even in non-igniting capsules. Diagnosing these inhomogeneities is necessary to increase yield in ICF experiments. In this work, 3D radiation hydrodynamic simulations of perturbed indirect drive ICF capsules are carried out using the CHIMERA code. During the stagnation phase a suite of novel and computationally efficient simulation tools are used to produce synthetic time-resolved neutron spectra and images. These tools allow a detailed study of the effects of hotspot inhomogeneities on diagnostic signals. Results show that the burn-averaged ion temperature drops rapidly during thermonuclear burn as the hotspot evolves from a localised, shock-heated region to a more massive, non-uniform plasma. Primary DD and DT neutron spectra show that there is significant residual bulk fluid motion at stagnation, complicating the measurement of ion temperature. Different perturbation modes cause different levels of anisotropic spectra shifts and broadening. However, in all cases the discrepancies between the DD and DT spectra are a reliable indicator of residual motion at stagnation. The simulations are used to examine the relationship between neutron scattering and areal density ($\rho $R). Three measures of areal density are simulated: downscattered neutron ratio, attenuated primary neutron yield and nT backscatter edge. Each of these diagnoses the magnitude and anisotropy of the $\rho $R with varying success, with accuracy decreasing for higher mode perturbations. Contributions to the neutron energy spectra from T$+$T reactions, secondary DT reactions and deuteron break-up are also evaluated. [Preview Abstract] |
Wednesday, November 2, 2016 11:00AM - 11:30AM |
NI2.00004: Backlighting Direct-Drive Cryogenic DT Implosions on OMEGA Invited Speaker: C. Stoeckl X-ray backlighting has been frequently used to measure the in-flight characteristics of an imploding shell in both direct- and indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions. These measurements provide unique insight into the early time and stagnation stages of an implosion and guide the modeling efforts to improve the target designs. Backlighting a layered DT implosion on OMEGA is a particular challenge because the opacity of the DT shell is low, the shell velocity is high, the size and wall thickness of the shell is small, and the self-emission from the hot core at the onset of burn is exceedingly bright. A framing-camera--based crystal imaging system with a Si He$_{\alpha }$ backlighter at $\sim 1.865\mbox{\thinspace keV}$ driven by 10-ps short pulses from OMEGA EP was developed to meet these radiography challenges. A fast target inserter was developed to accurately place the Si backlighter foil at a distance of 5 mm to the implosion target following the removal of the cryogenic shroud and an ultra-stable triggering system was implemented to reliably trigger the framing camera coincident with the arrival of the OMEGA EP pulse. This talk will report on a series of implosions in which the DT shell is imaged for a range of convergence ratios and in-flight aspect ratios. The images acquired have been analyzed for low-mode shape variations, the DT shell thickness, the level of ablator mixing into the DT fuel (even 0.1{\%} of carbon mix can be reliably inferred), the areal density of the DT shell, and the impact of the support stalk. The measured implosion performance will be compared with hydrodynamic simulations that include imprint (up to mode 200), cross-beam energy transfer, nonlocal thermal transport, and initial low-mode perturbations such as power imbalance and target misalignment. This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration under Award Number DE-NA0001944. [Preview Abstract] |
Wednesday, November 2, 2016 11:30AM - 12:00PM |
NI2.00005: Direct measurement of the confinement time in a magnetically driven liner stagnation Invited Speaker: Matthew Martin We report on direct, radiographic measurement of the stagnation phase of a magnetically driven liner implosion. In experiments on the Z machine, a beryllium liner is filled with liquid deuterium and imploded to a minimum radius of 440 microns (radial convergence ratio of 7.7) over 300ns, achieving a density at stagnation of approximately 10 g/cc. The measured confinement time is 12.2 ns, compared to 14 ns from 1D simulations. Comparison of the evolution of the density profiles from the radiographs with the simulation shows a deviation in the reflected shock trajectory and the stagnation of the trailing mass. Additionally, the magneto-Raleigh-Taylor instability modifies the axial liner mass distribution, leading to enhanced compression with shorter confinement in the bubble region compared to the spikes, reducing the overall pressure-confinement time product by 29 percent as compared to the 1D simulation. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U. S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.\\ \\In collaboration with: Patrick Knapp \& Daniel Dolan, Sandia National Labs. [Preview Abstract] |
Wednesday, November 2, 2016 12:00PM - 12:30PM |
NI2.00006: BigFoot, a program to reduce risk for indirect drive laser fusion* Invited Speaker: Cliff Thomas The conventional approach to inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is to maximize compressibility, or, total areal density. To achieve high convergence (40), the laser pulse is shaped to launch a weak first shock, which is followed in turn by 2-3 stronger shocks. Importantly, this has an outsized effect on integrated target physics, as the time it takes the shocks to transit the shell is related to hohlraum wall motion and filling, and can contribute to difficulties achieving an implosion that is fast, tunable, and/or predictable. At its outset, this approach attempts to predict the tradeoff in capsule and hohlraum physics in a case that is challenging, and assumes the hotspot can still reach the temperature and density necessary to self-heat (4-5 keV and 0.1-0.2 g/cm$^{2}$, respectively). Here, we consider an alternate route to fusion ignition, for which the benefits of predictability, control, and coupling could exceed the benefits of convergence. In this approach we avoid uncertainty, and instead, seek a target that is predictable. To simplify hohlraum physics and limit wall motion we keep the implosion time short (6-7 ns), and design the target to avoid laser-plasma instabilities. Whereas the previous focus was on density, it is now on making a 1D hotspot at low convergence (20) that is robust with respect to alpha heating (5-6 keV, and 0.2-0.3 g/cm$^{2})$. At present, we estimate the tradeoff between convergence and control is relatively flat, and advantages in coupling enable high velocity (450-500 um/ns) and high yield (1E17). Were the approach successful, we believe it could reduce barriers to progress, as further improvements could be made with small, incremental increases in areal density. Details regarding the ``BigFoot'' platform and pulse are reported, as well as initial experiments. Work that could enable additional improvements in laser power, laser control, and capsule stability will also be discussed. *This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. [Preview Abstract] |
Follow Us |
Engage
Become an APS Member |
My APS
Renew Membership |
Information for |
About APSThe American Physical Society (APS) is a non-profit membership organization working to advance the knowledge of physics. |
© 2024 American Physical Society
| All rights reserved | Terms of Use
| Contact Us
Headquarters
1 Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844
(301) 209-3200
Editorial Office
100 Motor Pkwy, Suite 110, Hauppauge, NY 11788
(631) 591-4000
Office of Public Affairs
529 14th St NW, Suite 1050, Washington, D.C. 20045-2001
(202) 662-8700