Demonstration of enhanced direct-drive implosion efficiency using gradient pulses.

Abstract

Higher implosion efficiency is of great significance in direct-drive fusion research. We demonstrated the critical role played by the intensity gradient of the main drive laser pulse in improving efficiency of direct-drive implosions, using a double-gradient nanosecond pulse. Compared with a square pulse, the burn-through depth was increased by over 200%, and the shell velocity was increased by ∼2.1 times with an optimized double-gradient pulse. As the result, the implosion efficiency was enhanced by ∼ six times. It was found that by limiting the intensity gradient of the main drive pulse to no more than ∼2.5×10^{15}W/(cm^{2}ns), heat flux inhibition by nonlocal electron thermal transport effects could be eliminated, and ultimately an efficient mass ablation process was achieved. These results have relevance for pulse designs in ignition-scale direct-drive implosions.