Research Opportunities in High Energy Density Laboratory Plasmas on the NDCX-II Facility

Abstract

Intense beams of heavy ions offer a very attractive tool for fundamental research in high energy density physics and inertial fusion energy science. These applications build on the significant recent advances in the generation, compression and focusing of intense heavy ion beams in the presence of a neutralizing background plasma. Such beams can provide uniform volumetric heating of the target during a time-scale shorter than the hydrodynamic response time, thereby enabling a significant suite of experiments that will elucidate the underlying physics of dense, strongly-coupled plasma states, which have been heretofore poorly understood and inadequately diagnosed, particularly in the warm dense matter regime. The innovations, fundamental knowledge, and experimental capabilities developed in this basic research program is also expected to provide new research opportunities to study the physics of directly-driven ion targets, which can dramatically reduce the size of heavy ion beam drivers for inertial fusion energy applications. Experiments examining the behavior of thin target foils heated to the warm dense matter regime began at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 2008, using the Neutralized Drift Compression Experiment - I (NDCX-I) facility, and its associated target chamber and diagnostics. The upgrade of this facility, called NDCX-II, will enable an excitingmore » set of scientific experiments that require highly uniform heating of the target, using Li{sup +} ions which enter the target with kinetic energy in the range of 3 MeV, slightly above the Bragg peak for energy deposition, and exit with energies slightly below the Bragg peak. This document briefly summarizes the wide range of fundamental scientific experiments that can be carried out on the NDCX-II facility, pertaining to the two charges presented to the 2008 Fusion Energy Science Advisory Committee (FESAC) panel on High Energy Density Laboratory Plasmas (HEDLP). These charges include: (1) Identify the compelling scientific opportunities for research in fundamental HEDLP that could be investigated using existing and planned facilities in support of the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences and the National Nuclear Security Administration/Defense Program missions; and (2) Identify the scientific issues of implosion and target design that need to be addressed to make the case for inertial fusion energy as a potential future energy source. Compelling research opportunities of high intellectual value that can be carried out on the NDCX-II experimental facility are briefly summarized below, grouped into four main research areas. Page 4 lists several national and internationally-attended user workshops that have provided much of the input for the experimental campaigns describe below. More detailed information can be provided upon request.« less