Abstract
This paper describes the design and fabrication of a range of ‘gas cell’ microtargets produced by the Target Fabrication Group in the Central Laser Facility (CLF) for academic access experiments on the Orion laser facility at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE). The experiments were carried out by an academic consortium led by Imperial College London. The underlying target methodology was an evolution of a range of targets used for experiments on radiative shocks and involved the fabrication of a precision machined cell containing a number of apertures for interaction foils or diagnostic windows. The interior of the cell was gas-filled before laser irradiation. This paper details the assembly processes, thin film requirements and micro-machining processes needed to produce the targets. Also described is the implementation of a gas-fill system to produce targets that are filled to a pressure of 0.1–1 bar. The paper discusses the challenges that are posed by such a target.
Highlights
As part of its commitment to the UK academic plasma physics community the Central Laser Facility (CLF) supports academic access to the Orion laser facility at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston[1], which constitutes up to 15% of the Orion experimental programme through the supply of target components and subsistence provision. This target fabrication support is in addition to the experimental support provided at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) for the high-power laser experiments carried out for the CLF programme
The target design was optimized to allow for the shocks to propagate without interacting with the cell walls and for optical and X-ray diagnostics to be able to image the shocks as close as possible to their point of origin
The brominated disk was adhered to the polypropylene disk with a 2-part araldite and transmitted light illumination showed up any voids in the glue layer
Summary
As part of its commitment to the UK academic plasma physics community the Central Laser Facility (CLF) supports academic access to the Orion laser facility at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston[1], which constitutes up to 15% of the Orion experimental programme through the supply of target components and subsistence provision. This target fabrication support is in addition to the experimental support provided at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) for the high-power laser experiments carried out for the CLF programme. Over the past 40 years the CLF Target Fabrication Group has developed extensive skills in a range of capabilities that are directly applicable to target manufacture and has dedicated laboratories for thin film coating, micro-assembly, metrology, wafer based target manufacture, laser micro-
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