Asymmetrically driven implosions

Abstract

Techniques to achieve uniform near-spherical symmetry of radiation drive on a capsule in a laser-heated hohlraum have received detailed attention in the context of inertial confinement fusion. However, much less attention has been paid to the understanding of the hohlraum physics in cases where the radiation drive departs significantly from spherical symmetry. A series of experiments has been carried out to study the implosion dynamics of a capsule irradiated by a deliberately asymmetric x-ray drive. The experimental data provide a sensitive test of radiation transport in hohlraums in which drive symmetry is modulated by asymmetric laser beam timing and the use of wall materials of different albedos. Data from foam ball and thin-shell capsule experiments are presented together with modeling using consecutively linked Lagrangian and Eulerian calculational schemes. The thin-shell capsules exhibit much stronger sensitivity to early-time asymmetry than do the foam balls, and this sensitivity results in the formation of a well-defined polar jet. These data are shown to challenge computational modeling in this highly asymmetric convergent regime. All of the experiments detailed were carried out at the OMEGA laser facility [J. M. Soures, R. L. McCrory, C. P. Verdon et al., Phys. Plasmas 3, 2108 (1996)] at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics in Rochester, NY.