Inertial confinement fusion implosions with imposed magnetic field compression using the OMEGA Laser

Abstract

Experiments applying laser-driven magnetic-flux compression to inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets to enhance the implosion performance are described. Spherical plastic (CH) targets filled with 10 atm of deuterium gas were imploded by the OMEGA Laser, compare Phys. Plasmas 18, 056703 or Phys. Plasmas 18, 056309. Before being imploded, the targets were immersed in an 80-kG magnetic seed field. Upon laser irradiation, the high implosion velocities and ionization of the target fill trapped the magnetic field inside the capsule, and it was amplified to tens of megagauss through flux compression. At such strong magnetic fields, the hot spot inside the spherical target was strongly magnetized, reducing the heat losses through electron confinement. The experimentally observed ion temperature was enhanced by 15%, and the neutron yield was increased by 30%, compared to nonmagnetized implosions [P. Y. Chang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 035006 (2011)]. This represents the first experimental verification of performance enhancement resulting from embedding a strong magnetic field into an ICF capsule. Experimental data for the fuel-assembly performance and magnetic field are compared to numerical results from combining the 1-D hydrodynamics code LILAC with a 2-D magnetohydrodynamics postprocessor.