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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Shock-transformation of whitlockite to merrillite and the implications for meteoritic phosphate

Meteorites represent the only samples available for study on Earth of a number of planetary bodies. The minerals within meteorites therefore hold the key to addressing numerous questions about our solar system. Of particular interest is the Ca-phosphate mineral merrillite, the anhydrous end-member of the merrillite-whitlockite solid solution series. For example, the anhydrous nature of merrillite in Martian meteorites has been interpreted as evidence of water-limited late-stage Martian melts. However, recent research on apatite in the same meteorites suggests higher water content in melts. One complication of using meteorites rather than direct samples is the shock compression all meteorites have experienced, which can alter meteorite mineralogy. Here we show whitlockite transformation into merrillite by shock-compression levels relevant to meteorites, including Martian meteorites. The results open the possibility that at least part of meteoritic merrillite may have originally been H + -bearing whitlockite with implications for interpreting meteorites and the need for future sample return.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Generation of high pressure shocks relevant to the shock-ignition intensity regime

An experiment was performed using the PALS laser to study laser-target coupling and laser-plasma interaction in an intensity regime ≤10{sup 16} W/cm{sup 2}, relevant for the “shock ignition” approach to Inertial Confinement Fusion. A first beam at low intensity was used to create an extended preformed plasma, and a second one to create a strong shock. Pressures up to 90 Megabars were inferred. Our results show the importance of the details of energy transport in the overdense region.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Combined x-ray scattering, radiography, and velocity interferometry/streaked optical pyrometry measurements of warm dense carbon using a novel technique of shock-and-release

This work focused on a new application of the shock-and-release technique for equation of state (EOS) measurements. Warm dense matter states at near normal solid density and at temperatures close to 10 eV in diamond and graphite samples were created using a deep release from a laser-driven shock at the OMEGA laser facility. Independent temperature, density, and pressure measurements that do not depend on any theoretical models or simulations were obtained using imaging x-ray Thomson scattering, radiography, velocity interferometry, and streaked optical pyrometry. The experimental results were reproduced by the 2-D FLASH radiation hydrodynamics simulations finding a good agreement. The final EOS measurement was then compared with widely used SESAME EOS models as well as quantum molecular dynamics simulation results for carbon, which were very consistent with the experimental data.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Intermittent laser-plasma interactions and hot electron generation in shock ignition

We study laser-plasma interactions and hot electron generation in the ignition phase of shock ignition through 1D and 2D particle-in-cell simulations in the regime of long density scale length and moderately high laser intensity. These long-term simulations show an intermittent bursting pattern of laser-plasma instabilities, resulting from a coupling of the modes near the quarter-critical-surface and those in the lower density region via plasma waves and laser pump depletion. The majority of the hot electrons are found to be from stimulated Raman scattering and of moderate energies. However, high energy electrons of preheating threat can still be generated from the two-plasmon-decay instability.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Determining the refractive index of shocked [100] lithium fluoride to the limit of transmissibility

Lithium fluoride (LiF) is a common window material used in shock- and ramp-compression experiments because it displays a host of positive attributes in these applications. Most commonly, it is used to maintain stress at an interface and velocimetry techniques are used to record the particle velocity at that interface. In this application, LiF remains transparent to stresses up to 200 GPa. In this stress range, LiF has an elastic-plastic response with a very low (<0.5 GPa) elastic precursor and exhibits no known solid-solid phase transformations. However, because the density dependence of the refractive index of LiF does not follow the Gladstone-Dale relation, the measured particle velocity at this interface is not the true particle velocity and must be corrected. For that reason, the measured velocity is often referred to as the apparent velocity in these types of experiments. In this article, we describe a series of shock-compression experiments that have been performed to determine the refractive index of LiF at the two most commonly used wavelengths (532 nm and 1550 nm) between 35 and 200 GPa to high precision. A modified form of the Gladstone-Dale relation was found to work best to fit the determined values of refractive index. In addition, we provide a direct relationship between the apparent and true particle velocity to correct experimentally obtained wave profiles by others using these velocimetry techniques.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Assessment of ion kinetic effects in shock-driven inertial confinement fusion implosions using fusion burn imaging

The significance and nature of ion kinetic effects in D{sup 3}He-filled, shock-driven inertial confinement fusion implosions are assessed through measurements of fusion burn profiles. Over this series of experiments, the ratio of ion-ion mean free path to minimum shell radius (the Knudsen number, N{sub K}) was varied from 0.3 to 9 in order to probe hydrodynamic-like to strongly kinetic plasma conditions; as the Knudsen number increased, hydrodynamic models increasingly failed to match measured yields, while an empirically-tuned, first-step model of ion kinetic effects better captured the observed yield trends [Rosenberg et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 185001 (2014)]. Here, spatially resolved measurements of the fusion burn are used to examine kinetic ion transport effects in greater detail, adding an additional dimension of understanding that goes beyond zero-dimensional integrated quantities to one-dimensional profiles. In agreement with the previous findings, a comparison of measured and simulated burn profiles shows that models including ion transport effects are able to better match the experimental results. In implosions characterized by large Knudsen numbers (N{sub K} ∼ 3), the fusion burn profiles predicted by hydrodynamics simulations that exclude ion mean free path effects are peaked far from the origin, in stark disagreement with the experimentally observed profiles, which are centrally peaked. In contrast, a hydrodynamics simulation that includes a model of ion diffusion is able to qualitatively match the measured profile shapes. Therefore, ion diffusion or diffusion-like processes are identified as a plausible explanation of the observed trends, though further refinement of the models is needed for a more complete and quantitative understanding of ion kinetic effects.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Stabilization of high-compression, indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions using a 4-shock adiabat-shaped drive

Hydrodynamic instabilities and poor fuel compression are major factors for capsule performance degradation in ignition experiments on the National Ignition Facility. Using a recently developed laser drive profile with a decaying first shock to tune the ablative Richtmyer-Meshkov (ARM) instability and subsequent in-flight Rayleigh-Taylor growth, we have demonstrated reduced growth compared to the standard ignition pulse whilst maintaining conditions for a low fuel adiabat needed for increased compression. Using in-flight x-ray radiography of pre-machined modulations, the first growth measurements using this new ARM-tuned drive have demonstrated instability growth reduction of ∼4× compared to the original design at a convergence ratio of ∼2. Corresponding simulations give a fuel adiabat of ∼1.6, similar to the original goal and consistent with ignition requirements.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Simulation of stimulated Brillouin scattering and stimulated Raman scattering in shock ignition

We study stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in shock ignition by comparing fluid and particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. Under typical parameters for the OMEGA experiments [Theobald et al., Phys. Plasmas 19, 102706 (2012)], a series of 1D fluid simulations with laser intensities ranging between 2 × 10{sup 15} and 2 × 10{sup 16 }W/cm{sup 2} finds that SBS is the dominant instability, which increases significantly with the incident intensity. Strong pump depletion caused by SBS and SRS limits the transmitted intensity at the 0.17n{sub c} to be less than 3.5 × 10{sup 15 }W/cm{sup 2}. The PIC simulations show similar physics but with higher saturation levels for SBS and SRS convective modes and stronger pump depletion due to higher seed levels for the electromagnetic fields in PIC codes. Plasma flow profiles are found to be important in proper modeling of SBS and limiting its reflectivity in both the fluid and PIC simulations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Time-resolved unsteady shock motion and spectral analysis of a hypersonic shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction over a double-cone

Direct experimental measurements of double-cone shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction dynamics at Mach 7.2 were collected using a schlieren-based shock-detection algorithm at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The points of flow separation and reattachment were spatially and spectrally evaluated at 300 kHz for time-resolved characterization of the unsteadiness of this flow field. The separation bubble was found to rapidly expand and contract about a large mean length. Spectral analysis of the velocity fluctuations of this motion revealed this behavior to be a turbulent phenomenon, with spectral energy trends consistent with the Kolmogorov theory for the turbulent energy cascade.

Glasby, Ryan [ORNL]↗
DOE OSTI2015

SWIFT AND FERMI OBSERVATIONS OF X-RAY FLARES: THE CASE OF LATE INTERNAL SHOCK

Simultaneous Swift and Fermi observations of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) offer a unique broadband view of their afterglow emission, spanning more than 10 decades in energy. We present the sample of X-ray flares observed by both Swift and Fermi during the first three years of Fermi operations. While bright in the X-ray band, X-ray flares are often undetected at lower (optical), and higher (MeV to GeV) energies. We show that this disfavors synchrotron self-Compton processes as the origin of the observed X-ray emission. We compare the broadband properties of X-ray flares with the standard late internal shock model, and find that in this scenario, X-ray flares can be produced by a late-time relativistic (Γ > 50) outflow at radii R ∼ 10{sup 13}-10{sup 14} cm. This conclusion holds only if the variability timescale is significantly shorter than the observed flare duration, and implies that X-ray flares can directly probe the activity of the GRB central engine.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Direct-drive measurements of laser-imprint-induced shock velocity nonuniformities [First direct-drive measurements of laser-imprint-induced shock velocity nonuniformities]

Perturbations in the velocity profile of a laser-ablation-driven shock wave seeded by speckle in the spatial beam intensity (i.e., laser imprint) have been measured. Direct measurements of these velocity perturbations were recorded using a two-dimensional high-resolution velocimeter probing plastic material shocked by a 100-ps picket laser pulse from the OMEGA laser system. The measured results for experiments with one, two, and five overlapping beams incident on the target clearly demonstrate a reduction in long-wavelength (>25– μ m) perturbations with an increasing number of overlapping laser beams, consistent with theoretical expectations. Furthermore, these experimental measurements are crucial to validate radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of laser imprint for laser direct drive inertial confinement fusion research since they highlight the significant (factor of 3) underestimation of the level of seeded perturbation when the microphysics processes for initial plasma formation, such as multiphoton ionization are neglected.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Performance enhancement of direct-drive shock-augmented ignition inertial fusion implosions through shock timing optimization

Shock-augmented ignition (SAI) [R. H. H. Scott et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 195001 (2022)] is an alternative inertial confinement fusion concept that is designed to achieve high energy gain by combining improved resilience to instabilities with enhanced fuel compression. In SAI, lower implosion velocities can improve hydrodynamic stability and limited laser intensities reduce the excitation of detrimental laser-plasma instabilities, enabling greater areal density accumulation. Here we report an experimental investigation of SAI using a series of warm D 2 implosions. By timing the augmenting shock to arrive at the implosion center immediately prior to peak compression, the areal density and hot-spot pressure increase by 50% and 112%, respectively, relative to unoptimized designs. Ignition-scale simulations reproduce the observed timing dependence and demonstrate the potential of SAI for inertial fusion energy.

Direct drive↗