Abstract
With the next generation of high-power laser facilities for inertial fusion coming online1,2, ensuring laser beam propagation through centimetre-scale plasmas is a key physics issue for reaching ignition. Existing experimental results3,4,5 including the most recent one6 are limited to small laser spots, low-interaction laser beam energies and small plasma volumes of 1–2 mm. Here, we demonstrate the propagation of an intense, high-energy, ignition-size laser beam through fusion-size plasmas on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and find the experimental measurements to agree with full-scale modelling. Previous attempts to apply computer modelling as a predictive capability have been limited by the inherently multiscale description of the full laser–plasma interaction processes7,8,9,10,11. The findings of this study validate supercomputer modelling as an essential tool for the design of future ignition experiments.
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Acknowledgements
This work was carried out under the auspices of the US Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration by the University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. W-7405-ENG-48. The authors would like to acknowledge the efforts of the engineering and operations staff at the National Ignition Facility.
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The project was planned by S.H.G., L.D., B.A.H., O.L.L., B.J.M. and E.I.M. The experiment was designed by L.D., O.S.J., A.B.L., S.L., N.M., C.H.S., E.A.W. and L.J.S., and carried out by S.H.G., D.H.F., S.D., C.H., J.P.H., D.H.K., A.J.M., C.N. and B.K.F.Y. Target fabrication was carried out by R.J.W. The data were analysed by D.H.F., J.P.H. and C.N. and simulations were carried out by L.D., R.L.B., M.D. and J.A.H.
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Glenzer, S., Froula, D., Divol, L. et al. Experiments and multiscale simulations of laser propagation through ignition-scale plasmas. Nature Phys 3, 716–719 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys709
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys709
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