High Energy Density Experiments Research Articles

Development of a Big Area BackLighter for high energy density experiments.

A very large area (7.5 mm(2)) laser-driven x-ray backlighter, termed the Big Area BackLighter (BABL) has been developed for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) to support high energy density experiments. The BABL provides an alternative to Pinhole-Apertured point-projection Backlighting (PABL) for a large field of view. This bypasses the challenges for PABL in the equatorial plane of the NIF target chamber where space is limited because of the unconverted laser light that threatens the diagnostic aperture, the backlighter foil, and the pinhole substrate. A transmission experiment using 132 kJ of NIF laser energy at a maximum intensity of 8.52 × 10(14) W/cm(2) illuminating the BABL demonstrated good conversion efficiency of >3.5% into K-shell emission producing ~4.6 kJ of high energy x rays, while yielding high contrast images with a highly uniform background that agree well with 2D simulated spectra and spatial profiles.

Moiré deflectometry using the Talbot-Lau interferometer as refraction diagnostic for high energy density plasmas at energies below 10 keV.

The highly localized density gradients expected in High Energy Density (HED) plasma experiments can be characterized by x-ray phase-contrast imaging in addition to conventional attenuation radiography. Moiré deflectometry using the Talbot-Lau grating interferometer setup is an attractive HED diagnostic due to its high sensitivity to refraction induced phase shifts. We report on the adaptation of such a system for operation in the sub-10 keV range by using a combination of free standing and ultrathin Talbot gratings. This new x-ray energy explored matches well the current x-ray backlighters used for HED experiments, while also enhancing phase effects at lower electron densities. We studied the performance of the high magnification, low energy Talbot-Lau interferometer, for single image phase retrieval using Moiré fringe deflectometry. Our laboratory and simulation studies indicate that such a device is able to retrieve object electron densities from phase shift measurements. Using laboratory x-ray sources from 7 to 15 μm size we obtained accurate simultaneous measurements of refraction and attenuation for both sharp and mild electron density gradients.

Simultaneous measurements of several state variables in shocked carbon by imaging x-ray scattering

We apply the novel experimental technique of imaging x-ray Thomson scattering to measure the spatial profiles of the temperature, ionization state, relative material density, and the shock speed in a high-energy density system. A blast wave driven in a low-density foam is probed with 90∘ scattering of 7.8 keV helium-like nickel x-rays, which are spectrally dispersed and resolved in one spatial dimension by a doubly curved crystal. The inferred properties of the shock are shown to be self-consistent with 1D analytical estimates. These high-resolution measurements enable a direct comparison of the observed temperature with the results from hydrodynamic simulations. We find good agreement with the simulations for the temperature at the shock front but discrepancies in the modeling of the spatial temperature profile and shock speed. These results indicate the challenges in modeling the shock dynamics of structured materials like foams, commonly used in many high-energy density and laboratory astrophysics experiments.

Talbot-Lau based Moiré deflectometry with non-coherent sources as potential High Energy Density plasma diagnostic

X-ray phase-contrast radiography could better characterize highly localized density gradients expected in High Energy Density (HED) plasma experiments than conventional attenuation radiography. In particular, the Talbot-Lau (TL) grating interferometer, which works with extended and polychromatic x-ray sources, is a potentially attractive HED diagnostic due to its high sensitivity. For HED characterization the TL setup and imaging techniques must be changed from the recently studied medical system. The object magnification must be increased greatly in order to resolve μm scale gradients while the Talbot magnification must be increased in order to keep the gratings away from the plasma. Additionally, techniques for retrieving the density profile from a single plasma image must be developed. We thus study the performance of high magnification TL interferometers, in conjunction with Moiré fringe deflectometry for single image phase retrieval. The results show a very good interferometer contrast (≤30%) at high magnification. The Moiré technique enables measuring both sharp and mild density gradients with good accuracy and spatial resolution. Both the laboratory and simulation studies indicate that the TL based Moiré deflectometry is more sensitive than the propagation phase-contrast method when utilizing an extended x-ray source (∼80 μm). In HED experiments this would allow for less demanding X-ray backlighters than those used at present.

Novel methods in the Particle-In-Cell accelerator Code-Framework Warp

The Particle-In-Cell (PIC) Code-Framework Warp is being developed by the Heavy Ion Fusion Science Virtual National Laboratory (HIFS-VNL) to guide the development of accelerators that can deliver beams suitable for high-energy density experiments and implosion of inertial fusion capsules. It is also applied in various areas outside the Heavy Ion Fusion program to the study and design of existing and next-generation high-energy accelerators, including the study of electron cloud effects and laser wakefield acceleration for example. This paper presents an overview of Warp's capabilities, summarizing recent original numerical methods that were developed by the HIFS-VNL (including PIC with adaptive mesh refinement, a large-timestep ?drift-Lorentz? mover for arbitrarily magnetized species, a relativistic Lorentz invariant leapfrog particle pusher, simulations in Lorentz-boosted frames, an electromagnetic solver with tunable numerical dispersion and efficient stride-based digital filtering), with special emphasis on the description of the mesh refinement capability. Selected examples of the applications of the methods to the abovementioned fields are given.

Absolute measurements of x-ray backlighter sources at energies above 10 keV

Line emission and broadband x-ray sources with x-ray energies above 10 keV have been investigated using a range of calibrated x-ray detectors for use as x-ray backlighters in high energy density (HED) experiments. The conversion efficiency of short- and long-pulse driven Mo and Ag line-emission backlighters at 17 and 22 keV was measured to investigate the crossover region between short- and long-pulse conversion efficiency. It was found that significant 17 and 22 keV line emissions were observed using a 3 ω, 1 ns long-pulse drive for Mo and Ag targets and a comparison between the measured Mo x-ray spectrum and calculations using an atomic physics code suggests that the line emission is due to thermal emission from N-like Mo atoms. Electron temperatures derived from fits to the continuum region of the x-ray spectra agree well with the Thot scaling as 100×(Iλ2)1/3. The continuum emissions from empty and 1 atm Kr-filled imploded CH shell targets were also measured for the use as broadband backlighters.

Simple collision operators for direct Vlasov simulations of laser plasma interaction and transport

Non-local electron transport effects have a direct influence on the compression of cryogenic targets in laser driven ICF and target heating in high energy density experiments. There is a growing need for self-consistent models of laser plasma interactions coupled to nonlocal transport. We present a direct Vlasov solver that includes multiple species and a simple collision operator. This BGK model operator – which conserves particle density, energy and momentum – is fully implicit. For collisionless plasmas it has been shown that a double layer may be formed in which an accelerated, kinetic ion population satisfies the zero current condition. Here we extend this result to collisionalities of interest to laser driven ignition to assess the validity of nonlocal electron transport models based on fluid ions.

Using wall shocks to measure preheat in laser-irradiated, high-energy-density, hydrodynamics experiments

Laser-irradiated, high-energy-density (HED) physics experiments commonly use experimental targets that are contained in a shock tube. X-rays generated when the laser irradiates the target surface are believed to be energetic enough to heat the tube wall material and generate a secondary shock. The speed of this secondary shock can be used to assess the amount of preheat in an experimental system. This paper describes an experiment that explores the hydrodynamic instabilities believed to occur in core-collapse supernova. The preheat in the system can affect the initial conditions of HED experiments causing unintended heating of material.

One-dimensional hydrodynamic simulation of high energy density experiments

A new one-dimensional hydrodynamic code for simulation of experiments involving the creation of high energy density in matter by means of laser or heavy ion beam irradiation is described. The code uses well-tested second order Lagrangian scheme in combination with the flux-limited van Leer convection algorithm for re-mapping to an arbitrary grid. Simple test cases with self-similar solutions are examined. Finally, the heating of solid targets by lasers and ions beams is investigated as examples.

High-resolution 17–75keV backlighters for high energy density experiments

17 – 75 keV one- and two-dimensional high-resolution (<10μm) radiography has been developed using high-intensity short pulse lasers. High energy Kα sources are created by fluorescence from hot electrons interacting in the target material after irradiation by lasers with intensity IL>1017W∕cm2. High-resolution point projection one- and two-dimensional radiography has been achieved using microfoil and microwire targets attached to low-Z substrate materials. The microwire size was 10μm×10μm×300μm on a 300μm×300μm×5μm polystyrene substrate. The radiography experiments were performed using the Titan laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The results show that the resolution is dominated by the microwire target size and there is very little degradation from the plasma plume, implying that the high-energy x-ray photons are generated mostly within the microwire volume. There are enough Kα photons created with a 300J, 1-ω, 40ps pulse laser from these small volume targets, and that the signal-to-noise ratio is sufficiently high, for single shot radiography experiments. This unique technique will be used on future high energy density experiments at many new high-power laser facilities.

Strengthened lithium for x-ray blast windows

Lithium's high x-ray transparency makes it an attractive material for windows intended to protect soft x-ray diagnostics in high energy density experiments. Pure lithium is soft and weak, but lithium mixed with lithium hydride powder becomes harder and stronger, in principle without any additional x-ray absorption. A comparison with the standard material for x-ray windows, beryllium, suggests that lithium or lithium strengthened by lithium hydride may well be an excellent option for such windows.

Ultra-fast ionization modeling in laser-plasma interaction

A new ionization model for weighted particle simulation of large density scale plasmas has been developed. It is capable of treating both field and impact ionization. The high-order interpolation scheme we have adopted reduces numerical noises of electromagnetic waves, which ionize the target unphysically. This model has been tested in simulations of high intensity laser interaction with both underdense and overdense targets. With the addition of the treatment of collisions, this new code allows us to perform large-scale simulations of laser matter interaction with atomic physics. This model is a very valuable tool for the design of high-energy density experiments with short pulse lasers.

High performance capsule implosions driven by the Z-pinch dynamic hohlraum

The Z-pinch dynamic hohlraum (ZPDH) is a high-power x-ray source that has been used in a variety of high energy-density experiments including inertial confinement fusion (ICF) studies. The system consists of a tungsten wire-array Z pinch that implodes onto a low-density CH2 foam converter launching a radiating shock that heats the hohlraum to radiation temperatures >200 eV. Through time-gated pinhole camera measurements, the mean shock speed is measured from 28 experiments to be 326 ± 4 µm ns−1 with a shot-to-shot standard deviation of 7%. Broad-band x-ray measurements indicate that the shot-to-shot reproducibility in the power emission and pulse-shape of the source shock is <15% and ∼5%, respectively. Calculations have shown that an ICF capsule placed at the center of the foam in the ZPDH can absorb >40 kJ of x-ray energy, within a factor of 4 of the energy believed sufficient for ICF ignition. The capsule types imploded by the ZPDH have evolved over four years culminating in a design that produces record indirect-drive DD thermonuclear neutron yields of up to 3.5E11.

Quasi-isochoric ion beam heating using dynamic confinement in spherical geometry for X-ray scattering experiments in WDM regime

Extreme states of matter such as Warm Dense Matter “WDM” and Dense Strongly Coupled Plasmas “DSCP” play a key role in many high energy density experiments, however, creating WDM and DSCP in a manner that can be quantified is not readily feasible. In this paper, isochoric heating of matter by intense heavy ion beams in spherical symmetry is investigated for WDM and DSCP research: the heating times are long (100 ns), the samples are macroscopically large (millimeter-size) and the symmetry is advantageous for diagnostic purposes. A dynamic confinement scheme in spherical symmetry is proposed which allows even ion beam heating times that are long on the hydrodynamic time scale of the target response. A particular selection of low- Z target tamper and X-ray probe radiation parameters allows to identify the X-ray scattering from the target material and use it for independent charge state measurements Z* of the material under study.

Blast wave radiation source measurement experiments on Z

The Dynamic Hohlraum (DH) radiation on the Z facility at Sandia National Laboratories is a bright source of radiant energy that has proven useful for High Energy Density (HED) physics experiments. To be useful for HED experiments, where computer simulations need to be compared with experimental measurements, the radiation output from a DH on Z needs to be well-known. We present in this paper a new method for measuring the delivered radiation energy deposited in an experiment, specifically, an experiment driven by a Z DH. This technique uses a blast wave produced in a SiO 2 foam, which is initially super-sonic but transitions to sub-sonic, producing a shock at the transition point that is observable via radiography. The position of this shock is a sensitive measure of the radiation drive energy from the Z DH. Computer simulations of been used to design and analyze a Z foam blast wave experiment. This experiment has been shot on Z and experimental results compare favorably with the computations.

The national ignition facility: Path to ignition in the laboratory

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a 192-beam laser facility presently under construction at LLNL. When completed. NIF will be a 1.8-MJ, 500-TW ultraviolet laser system. Its missions are to obtain fusion ignition and to perform high energy density experiments in support of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. Four of the NIF beams have been commissioned to demonstrate laser performance and to commission the target area including target and beam alignment and laser timing. During this time, NIF demonstrated on a single-beam basis that it will meet its performance goals and demonstrated its precision and flexibility for pulse shaping, pointing, timing and beam conditioning. It also performed four important experiments for Inertial Confinement Fusion and High Energy Density Science. Presently, the project is installing production hardware to complete the project in 2009 with the goal to begin ignition experiments in 2010. An integrated plan has been developed including the NIF operations, user equipment such as diagnostics and cryogenic target capability, and experiments and calculations to meet this goal. This talk will provide NIF status, the plan to complete NIF, and the path to ignition.

The national ignition facility: path to ignition in the laboratory

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a 192-beam laser facility presently under construction at LLNL. When completed, NIF will be a 1.8-MJ, 500-TW ultraviolet laser system. Its missions are to obtain fusion ignition and to perform high energy density experiments in support of the US nuclear weapons stockpile. Four of the NIF beams have been commissioned to demonstrate laser performance and to commission the target area including target and beam alignment and laser timing. During this time, NIF demonstrated on a single-beam basis that it will meet its performance goals and demonstrated its precision and flexibility for pulse shaping, pointing, timing and beam conditioning. It also performed four important experiments for Inertial Confinement Fusion and High Energy Density Science. Presently, the project is installing production hardware to complete the project in 2009 with the goal to begin ignition experiments in 2010. An integrated plan has been developed including the NIF operations, user equipment such as diagnostics and cryogenic target capability, and experiments and calculations to meet this goal. This talk will provide NIF status, the plan to complete NIF, and the path to ignition.

Experimental study of two-fluid effects on magnetic reconnection in a laboratory plasma with variable collisionality

This article describes the recent findings on two-fluid effects on magnetic reconnection in plasmas with variable collisionality in the magnetic reconnection experiment (MRX) [M. Yamada et al., Phys. Plasmas 4, 1936 (1997)]. The MRX device has been upgraded to accommodate a variety of reconnection operation modes and high energy density experiments by increasing its capacitor bank energy and extending the discharge duration. As our experimental operation regime has moved from the collisional to the collision-free, two-fluid effects have become more evident. It is observed that the two-dimensional profile of the neutral sheet is changed significantly from the rectangular shape of the familiar Sweet-Parker type to a double wedge shape as the collisionality is reduced and the reconnection rate increases. The recent evolution of our experimental research from the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) to the two-fluid analysis is presented to illuminate the physics of Hall MHD in a collision-free reconnection layer. In particular, a clear experimental verification of an out-of-plane quadrupole field, a characteristic signature of the Hall MHD, has been made in the MRX neutral sheet, where the sheet width is comparable to the ion skin depth. It is important to note that the Hall effect, which occurs due to two-dimensional laminar flows of electrons in the reconnection plane, is observed together with the presence of low and high frequency magnetic turbulence, which often has three-dimensional structures. These observations in MRX have striking similarities to the recent magnetospheric measurements of reconnection region, in which the quadrupole component has been detected together with magnetic fluctuations.

High-energy Kα radiography using high-intensity, short-pulse lasers

The characteristics of 22–40keV Kα x-ray sources are measured. These high-energy sources are produced by 100TW and petawatt high-intensity lasers and will be used to develop and implement workable radiography solutions to probe high-Z and dense materials for the high-energy density experiments. The measurements show that the Kα source size from a simple foil target is larger than 60μm, too large for most radiography applications. The total Kα yield is independent of target thicknesses, verifying that refluxing plays a major role in photon generation. Smaller radiating volumes emit brighter Kα radiation. One-dimensional radiography experiments using small-edge-on foils resolved 10μm features with high contrast. Experiments were performed to test a variety of small volume two-dimensional point sources such as cones, wires, and embedded wires, measured photon yields, and compared the measurements with predictions from hybrid-particle-in-cell simulations. In addition to high-energy, high-resolution backlighters, future experiments will also need imaging detectors and diagnostic tools that are workable in the high-energy range. An initial look at some of these detector issues is also presented.

Numerical simulations and theoretical analysis of High Energy Density experiments at the next generation of ion beam facilities at Darmstadt: The HEDgeHOB collaboration

This paper presents detailed numerical simulations and theoretical analysis of different possible experimental schemes to study the thermophysical and transport properties of High Energy Density ( HED) matter generated by the interaction of intense heavy ion beams. The considered beam parameters are those which will be available at the future Facility for Antiprotons and Ion Research ( FAIR) at Darmstadt [W.F. Henneing, Nucl. Instrum. Methods, B214, (2004) 211]. This work has shown that an intense heavy ion beam can be used employing two very different configurations to study HED states in matter. In the first scheme, a sample material is uniformly and isochorically heated by the beam and the heated material is subsequently allowed to expand isentropically. Depending on the specific energy deposited in the material, one may access all the interesting physical states, including that of an expanded hot liquid ( EHL), two-phase liquid–gas ( 2PLG) region, critical point ( CP) parameters as well as strongly coupled plasma ( SCP) states during the expansion. This scheme is named HIHEX ( Heavy Ion Heating and EXpansion). We have considered a 1 GeV/u uranium beam with an intensity, N = 10 10–10 12 ions that are delivered in a single bunch, 50 ns long. The particle intensity distribution in the transverse direction is assumed to be Gaussian with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) in the range of 1–4 mm. We note that the estimated critical temperatures for many metals are very high which are very difficult to access using traditional techniques of shock compression of matter. Employing the proposed HIHEX scheme, one can easily achieve the required temperature by depositing corresponding specific energy in the sample. Solid as well as porous targets have been used in our study. In the second scheme, a sample material like frozen hydrogen that is enclosed in a cylindrical shell of a high- Z material like gold or lead, is imploded by the ion beam. This scheme is specially designed to generate multiple reflection of shocks in the target that leads to a low-entropy compression of the sample material. As a result of this, one achieves super-high densities (up to 30 times solid density) and ultrahigh pressures (3–30 Mbar) in the hydrogen. If one uses a hollow beam with an annular focal spot, hydrogen is not directly heated by the ion beam that leads to a low final temperature (of the order of a few thousand K). This scheme is therefore suitable to study the problem of hydrogen metallization. In case one uses a circular focal spot, although the hydrogen is strongly heated by the beam, one still achieves a very high compression because the pressure in the surrounding shell is orders of magnitude higher than that in hydrogen. However, in this case the final hydrogen temperature is much higher (of the order of a few eV) than in the previous case. This configuration is thus suitable to study the interiors of the giant planets and is named LAPLAS ( LAboratory PLAnetary Science). We have also analyzed the hydrodynamic stability of the LAPLAS target and we find that the Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) and Richtmeyer–Meshkov (RM) instabilities will not pose any serious problems to this scheme.