A technique is demonstrated for optimally generating three-dimensional reconstructions of images formed using a minimal quantity of data. The results are illustrated using thermonuclear α-particles from laser-driven implosions. The images are generated with a maximum entropy deconvolution algorithm from sets of three or four penumbral imaging cameras. It is demonstrated that this approach provides superior resolution and reveals structures not visible from the corresponding two-dimensional reconstructions of the constituent data. This technique can be successfully applied even when the total number of particles recorded in the image is less than 1000.

For inertial confinement fusion (ICF), a focused light ion beam (LIB) is required to propagate stably through a chamber to a target. It is pointed out that the applied external magnetic field is important for LIB propagation. To investigate the influence of the external magnetic field on the LIB propagation, the electrostatic dispersion relation of the magnetized light ion beam-plasma system was analyzed. The particle in-cell (PIC) simulation results are presented for a light ion beam-plasma system with an external magnetic field.

A magnetically insulated diode with an active anode source has been developed which produces a high-quality intense ion beam. The anode plasma of annular shape is produced independently of the main diode power pulse by the inductive breakdown of a radially expanding gas cloud supplied by a fast puff valve and nozzle configuration. The diode was developed on a 1010-W pulsed power generator that typically produces 150-kV, l-μs pulses. Prompt ion beam turn-on was attained in this diode when an adequate delay between pulsing the plasma source and delivering the diode power pulse was chosen. The neutral atom density in the diode accelerating gap was sufficiently low that the presence of the neutrals did not limit the beam pulse duration. When the puff valve was filled with H2 gas, a pure proton beam was produced, within the 20% uncertainty of the measurement technique. Proton beam pulses longer than 1 μs and current densities higher than 100 A/cm2 at 70–150 keV were generated.

The laser program developed at the Centre d'Etudes de Limeil-Valenton, Saint-Georges, France (CEL-V) is concentrated on a systematic investigation of indirect drive fusion; by comparison with direct drive, this process is expected to provide the required irradiation uniformity with relaxed constraints on laser beam quality. The main concerns are radiative transfer and preheat, hydrodynamic instabilities, and high-density X-ray driven implosions. Ablative implosion experiments have been conducted with the two beams at the Phebus facility (5 kJ, 1.3 ns, 0.35 μm). Symmetry was proved to be controlled by the casing structure, following scaling laws describing hohlraum physics. A compressed DT density ∼100 ρ0 (ρ0 liquid DT density) has been deduced from activation measurements. Different aspects of the soft X-ray transfer processes, and particularly of the ablation of a low-Z material, which drives the capsule implosion, are dealt with in detailed investigations. Reported here are results on X-ray reemission and penetration in several materials, and on induced hydrodynamics of accelerated foils. The laser energy required to reach fuel ignition conditions has been evaluated from numerical simulations as well as from analytical models, taking into account hohlraum physics, capsule implosion, hot spot formation, and burn propagation. Several crucial parameters have been drawn, the most important being the radiation temperature. A target gain in the order of 10 appears achievable with a 2-MJ laser.

Free electron lasers (FELs) place very stringent requirements on the quality of electron beams. Present techniques for commissioning and operating electron accelerators may not be optimized to produce the high brightness beams needed. Therefore, it is proposed to minimize the beamline errors in electron accelerator transport systems by minimizing the deviations between the experimentally measured and design transport matrices of each beamline section. The transport matrix for each section is measured using evoked responses. In addition, the transverse phase space of the beam is reconstructed by measuring the spatial distribution of the electrons at a number of different betatron phases and applying tomographic techniques developed for medical imaging.

The Al–Mg photoresonant X-ray laser scheme study was carried out on the 1.4-MA GIT-4 generator with a 1.7-cm separation between the liner axis and the Mg target. The radiation power in the pumping line was (2–3).109 W/cm and the radiation power within the 45–60–A range was 3.11010 W/cm. The Mg VI and MG VII lines were found by the grating spectrograph.

The target chamber of an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) power plant or high-yield test facility must be designed to absorb the target produced Xrays and ions and survive the resulting effects. The target chamber conditions must be restored in fractions of a second for high repetition rate power applications. Computer modeling of these phenomena is essential because equivalent conditions cannot be produced in laboratory experiments prior to the first ignition of high-yield ICF targets. Choices of models are dictated by specific reactor design strategies. The two major strategies, gas protection and sacrificial first surfaces, are used as a guide to our discussion. Physical models for ion, electron, and X-ray deposition are discussed, along with physical and numerical modeling of the resulting phase changes intarget chamber structures. The hydrodynamics and radiative transfer in the target chamber vapors and plasmas are central topics.

It is not often that a new form of transportation suddenly appears and replaces what was hitherto regarded as mankind's only realistic option. In space and upper atmosphere transportation, chemical rockets have held center stage for over half a century. Tsiokolvsky's ideas led to Wernher von Braun's V2, which in turn led to the Soyuz, Apollo, and Ariane programs and the Space Shuttle. But recently theoretical and computational studies as well as a few initial experiments have pointed to a new option: laser impulse space propulsion (LISP). This may offer a more efficient and less ecologically damaging means of putting payloads into orbit. The world high-power laser community is well suited to following and aiding developments in LISP, though most practical research is still at an embryonic level. Obviously an effort of the size required to develop a laser-driven low-earth-orbit (LEO) launcher would require a multinational commitment. LISP could then be regarded as a parallel challenge to those of achieving ICF rriicrofusion yield and of improving X-ray lasers, especially in the “water window.” Any physicist or engineer involved with the latter projects would find many points in common with the former. It therefore seems appropriate to briefly review the progress made in LISP and also to communicate some recent results from high-power laser-matter experiments that have lead to conceptual designs.

A paraxial theory of relativistic self-focusing of a Gaussian laser beam in plasmas, when the nonlinear part of the effective dielectric constant is arbitrarily large, is presented. The plasma is taken to be homogeneous without any density fluctuations being necessary. The approach of Akhmanov et al. based on the WKB and paraxial ray approximations has been followed. It is seen that the saturating nature of nonlinearity leads to two values of critical power of the beam (Pcrl and Pcr2) for self-focusing. When the power of the beam P lies between the two critical values (i.e., Pcr1 < P < Pcr2), the medium behaves as an oscillatory waveguide; the beam first converges and then diverges, converges again, and so on. For P > Pcr2 the beam first diverges, then converges, then diverges, and so on. Because the relativistic mechanism is instantaneous, the theory is applicable to the understanding of selffocusing of laser pulses also.

The growth of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in three dimensions is ex amined during the deceleration phase of an inertial confinement fusion implosion. A detailed discussion of the three-dimensional hydrocode, PLATO, is presented. A review of previous calculations is given, concentrating on theshape of the R-T instability in three dimensions. Results of the growth rate during the linear phase, the saturation amplitude, and the nonlinear evolution are presented.

2–D hydrodynamical simulations have been used to study the effects of surface finish on the evolution of planar analogs for the components of indirect-driven inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets (cavity surfaces and capsules) when exposed to the same uniform, assigned, temporally profiled thermal radiation bath. For the time-dependence of the radiation temperature was assumed to be the one resulting from 1-D simulations of a highgain indirectly driven target. The perturbation wavelength has been taken in the interval 2.5–40 μm, as suggested by the typical lengths appearing in the 1-D hydrodynamic evolution. The results for the evolution of 300 Å initial perturbation amplitude will be presented, because the results obtained for other amplitudes (somewhat smaller or larger) are qualitatively the same. The results do not seem very encouraging for the indirect-drive approach, at least in the form presented in the current literature, as the simulations show the onset of fast-growing hydrodynamical unstable modes, both on the capsule surface and on the cavity surface, producing dramatic effects on symmetry and radiation confinement.With regard to the (gold) cavity surface, for the shortest wavelengths the evolution enters the nonlinear phase in the early stages of the interaction, producing (due to surface area increase and thermal field rippling) a decrease by a factor of 3–4 of a conventionally defined radiation confinement parameter. For these same wavelengths stabilization mechanisms due to ablative polishing, finite gradient, or overpressure tend to be ineffectual. Similar results are obtained for the capsule surface at short wavelengths. In this case, in addition to an enhancement (up to factor of 10) of the ablation rate (and energy absorption) due to surface area increase and ripple effects, the flow behind the first shock wave turns out to be turbulent, with “eddies” having typical products of angular velocity x time of the order of unity or greater. The situation is not encouraging even for longer wavelengths; in this case, in addition to the generation of eddies in the fuel, the flow exhibits a transverse matter pile-up with consequent generation of holes in the thermal shield and premature fuel preheating.

Results of experimental and computational investigations devoted to energy transfer mechanisms and X-ray conversion efficiency in laser-produced plasma are presented and discussed. The layers of different thicknesses and diameters deposited on the plane mylar substrate were irradiated by the focused beam of Nd:glass laser. Spectrally, temporally, and spatially resolved measurements of soft X-ray emission have been carried out at power densities of 1013-1014 W/cm2. The conditions of “re-emission” zone formation have been established. Radiative heat conductivity is shown to be the important energy transfer mechanism in the experimental conditions under investigation.

The design scheme of a radially convergent 30-, 70-, or 100-μs e-beam-pumped laser with 9 or 18 1 excited volume is described. Amplitude, temporal, and spectral characteristics of the laser output, as well as laser thresholds in (Ar–Xe, He–Ar–Xe, He–Ne–Ar, and He– Ne–Ar–H2) gas mixtures have been investigated. The distribution of the specific deposited energy over the laser chamber cross section has been calculated by the Monte Carlo method. The small signal gain and unsaturable loss values of the active medium were measured for a Penning plasma Ne laser at λ = 0.585 μm.

The different physical models, computational methods, and results describing the properties of a plasma produced by an ultrashort laser pulse interacting with a solid target at different laser intensities are presented. The basic issues affecting the laser-plasma interaction are considered, including: the different absorption mechanisms; the formation of a transient, nonequilibrium, asymmetric electron distribution function; the energy losses; the role of instabilities and the ponderomotive force; ion expansion and acceleration; and surface wave propagation along the boundary of the plasma. The article concludes with a discussion of the range of applicability of the different approximations and future perspectives for the field.

A previous hydrodynamic model of the expansion of a laser-produced plasma, using classical (Spitzer) heat flux, is reconsidered with a nonlocal heat flux model. The nonlocal law is shown to be valid beyond the range of validity of the classical law, breaking down ultimately, however, in agreement with recent predictions.