Results in some directions of the target technology for research on high energy density and laser fusion at the Russian Federal Nuclear Centre–All-Russia Research Institute of Experimental Physics for the last three years are presented. The results of development of optical and X-ray methods of characterization and manufacturing techniques of targets for studying the equation-of-state at high pressures and the condensed rare gas targets for the influence of pulse-repeated laser irradiation are given.

The experiments to study the indirect drive targets' dynamics in a highly symmetrical X-radiation field were performed on the ISKRA-5 facility. This paper covered the results of experiments with the targets in the form of a Cu spherical hohlraum, the internal surface of which is coated with Au, with six holes for laser radiation input. In the center of the aforementioned hohlraum, a glass capsule filled with D–T gas was placed. In several experiments, the central capsule was coated with an ablator made of plastic with a different thickness. This allowed us to perform a series of experiments in which the different compression degree of D–T fuel was achieved. The analyses of experimental results revealed good agreement between the latter and the spherically symmetrical hydrodynamic calculations.

Two shells with the diameter of 0.8–0.9 mm and a wall thickness of ≅1 μm were produced at the Lebedev Physics Institute for the experiments conducted at the ISKRA-5 facility. The results of two experiments with the aforementioned shells conducted at the ISKRA-5 facility with the use of an indirect-drive set up. In one of the experiments, the diameter of the golden hohlraum was D = 2 mm while in the other it was D = 4 mm. In these experiments it was observed to be ≅4 times the difference of the average laser intensity on the hohlraum surface. The results of computational analysis of the experiments are also presented here.

The first experiments to study the shell's controlled asymmetry of capsule with DT-fuel in a highly symmetrical X-ray field, which is obtained inside a spherical hohlraum, were implemented. The asymmetry results from the coating of one hemisphere with the additional layer of material. The main goal of the experiment was to define the value of the capsule asymmetry, allowing us to experimentally obtain the neutron yield, which would be very different from the yield obtained in the experiment with the spherically symmetrical shell having the same mass as the asymmetrical one. It was shown that the shell asymmetry of ∼50% leads to the ∼(2–4) times reduction of the neutron yield as compared with the symmetrical shell. 2D calculations of the asymmetric capsule compression, using the MIMOZA-ND code, were conducted. The calculations demonstrated that the compression of targets, when exploding pusher regime occurs has a complicated character. The computational neutron yield, and the delay of the neutron generation time are in good agreement with the experimental data.

The experiments measuring the density of DT mixture compressed in indirect drive targets (X-ray targets) were conducted on the ISKRA-5 facility. The density was determined from the line broadening of H- and He-like Ar doped in DT-gas as a diagnostic substance. A series of three experiments with the X-ray targets having different shell thickness of capsule filled with DT + Ar mixture were carried out. In two of the three experiments, radiation spectra of Ar were recorded and the density of compressed gas was determined. The analysis of the experimental results for the X-ray target with a 280-μm diameter and a 7 μm wall thickness revealed that the density of the compressed gas may be estimated as ∼1 g/cm3.

Measurements of spectral and energy X-ray characteristics of almost transparent Fe plasma produced by laser radiation inside the inverted-corona targets have been made at ISKRA-5 facility. The targets were spherical plastics cavities with 2-mm diameter and 4.6-μm thickness covered from inside with Fe layer 0.25-μm thickness. X-ray spectrum, X-ray total energy, and the energy of a HeαFe resonance line have been measured. Experimental data and calculation results are collated.