Simulation study of the impact of backlighter quad removal on target performance for the proposed enhanced yield capability of NIF*

Recent experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) have established that thermonuclear yields > 3 MJ [1] are achievable with a laser energy of 2.05 MJ.  A recently proposed upgrade of the NIF to higher energies (2.6 MJ), while keeping constant peak power, promises to reach even higher yields. These energies usher into a new frontier in high-energy density (HED) physics experiments and may allow probing into conditions relevant to astrophysical phenomena.  However, in the current indirect-drive configuration, to utilize this new capability a few issues require further study.    For example, diagnosing material properties on an external package will require the removal of beams (used as back-lighters) thus introducing an inherent drive asymmetry onto the primary implosion that may lead to significant yield degradation.  We present simulations using the three-dimensional code HYDRA to assess the magnitude and impact on an igniting implosion introduced by the removal of a pair of quads from the NIF laser system and look at a possible compensation strategy.

 

[1] H. Abu-Shawareb et al. (The Indirect Drive ICF Collaboration) Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 065102 (2024)