Modeling crossed-beam energy transfer for inertial confinement fusion

Abstract

We developed a numerical code that describes both the energy transfer occurring when two or more laser beams overlap in a weakly non-homogeneous plasma, and the beam energy losses associated with the electron-ion collisions. The numerical solutions are validated with both the exact analytical solutions in homogeneous plasmas, and with new approximate analytical solutions in non-homogeneous plasmas that include the aforementioned inverse bremsstrahlung effect. Comparisons with kinetic particle-in-cell simulations are satisfactory, provided the acoustic wave-breaking limit and the self-focusing regime are not reached. An application of the Cross-Beam Energy Transfer model is shown for a typical case of indirect-drive implosion in a gold hohlraum.