Investigation of >10 kT magnetization of hot dense plasmas in cylindrical implosions through x-ray dopant spectroscopy and benchmarked simulations*

The application of a magnetic field to ICF implosions may assist in enhancing gain. Under extremely magnetized plasma conditions, the advantages are the suppression of heat losses in the transverse direction to the B-field, confinement of α particles in the target core, mitigation of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities and relaxation of constraints on target implosion velocities [1].

We present results from a platform to study MHD effects in magnetized implosion experiments performed at the OMEGA-60 facility. A magnetic field of 30 T was applied to a cylindrical target using pulsed-power coils, reaching fields of the order of ~10 kT at maximum compression [2].

We use x-ray emission spectroscopy from Ar and Kr fuel dopants, in conjunction to a multi-zone model, to validate changes in core electron temperature and density between a magnetized and an unmagnetized implosion. The influence of resistive diffusion and extended-MHD terms on B-field compressibility are investigated. Finally, we conduct a preliminary analysis of laser plasma instabilities and CBET to address target preheat and laser energy coupling.