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Results for “Fast Ignition”

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 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Collimated fast electron beam generation in critical density plasma

Significantly collimated fast electron beam with a divergence angle 10° (FWHM) is observed when an ultra-intense laser pulse (I = 10{sup 14 }W/cm{sup 2}, 300 fs) irradiates a uniform critical density plasma. The uniform plasma is created through the ionization of an ultra-low density (5 mg/c.c.) plastic foam by X-ray burst from the interaction of intense laser (I = 10{sup 14 }W/cm{sup 2}, 600 ps) with a thin Cu foil. 2D Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulation well reproduces the collimated electron beam with a strong magnetic field in the region of the laser pulse propagation. To understand the physical mechanism of the collimation, we calculate energetic electron motion in the magnetic field obtained from the 2D PIC simulation. As the results, the strong magnetic field (300 MG) collimates electrons with energy over a few MeV. This collimation mechanism may attract attention in many applications such as electron acceleration, electron microscope and fast ignition of laser fusion.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

The density gradient effect on quantum Weibel instability

The Weibel instability plays an important role in stopping the hot electrons and energy deposition mechanism in the fast ignition of inertial fusion process. In this paper, the effects of the density gradient and degeneracy on Weibel instability growth rate are investigated. Calculations show that decreasing the density degenerate in the plasma corona, near the relativistic electron beam emitting region by 8.5% leads to a 92% reduction in the degeneracy parameter and about 90% reduction in Weibel instability growth rate. Also, decreasing the degenerate density near the fuel core by 8.5% leads to 1% reduction in the degeneracy parameter and about 8.5% reduction in Weibel instability growth rate. The Weibel instability growth rate shrinks to zero and the deposition condition of relativistic electron beam energy can be shifted to the fuel core for a suitable ignition by increasing the degeneracy parameter in the first layer of plasma corona.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Highly collimated monoenergetic target-surface electron acceleration in near-critical-density plasmas

Optimized-quality monoenergetic target surface electron beams at MeV level with low normalized emittance (0.03π mm mrad) and high charge (30 pC) per shot have been obtained from 3 TW laser-solid interactions at a grazing incidence. The 2-Dimension particle-in-cell simulations suggest that electrons are wake-field accelerated in a large-scale, near-critical-density preplasma. It reveals that a bubble-like structure as an accelerating cavity appears in the near-critical-density plasma region and travels along the target surface. A bunch of electrons are pinched transversely and accelerated longitudinally by the wake field in the bubble. The outstanding normalized emittance and monochromaticity of such highly collimated surface electron beams could make it an ideal beam for fast ignition or may serve as an injector in traditional accelerators.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Efficient energy absorption of intense ps-laser pulse into nanowire target

The interaction between ultra-intense laser light and vertically aligned carbon nanotubes is investigated to demonstrate efficient laser-energy absorption in the ps laser-pulse regime. Results indicate a clear enhancement of the energy conversion from laser to energetic electrons and a simultaneously small plasma expansion on the surface of the target. A two-dimensional plasma particle calculation exhibits a high absorption through laser propagation deep into the nanotube array, even for a dense array whose structure is much smaller than the laser wavelength. The propagation leads to the radial expansion of plasma perpendicular to the nanotubes rather than to the front side. These features may contribute to fast ignition in inertial confinement fusion and laser particle acceleration, both of which require high current and small surface plasma simultaneously.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Magnetic field generation during intense laser channelling in underdense plasma

Channel formation during the propagation of a high-energy (120 J) and long duration (30 ps) laser pulse through an underdense deuterium plasma has been spatially and temporally resolved via means of a proton imaging technique, with intrinsic resolutions of a few μm and a few ps, respectively. Conclusive proof is provided that strong azimuthally symmetric magnetic fields with a strength of around 0.5 MG are created inside the channel, consistent with the generation of a collimated beam of relativistic electrons. The inferred electron beam characteristics may have implications for the cone-free fast-ignition scheme of inertial confinement fusion.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Particle-in-cell simulations of hot electron generation using defocused laser light in cone targets

The effects of defocusing a high intensity pulse of laser light on the generation of hot electrons in a cone are investigated using particle-in-cell simulations. The results indicate that defocused laser light can soften the electron energy spectrum and increase the coupling efficiency compared to the use of a laser in tight focus. It is shown that this is a consequence of the density profile of plasma produced by the laser prepulse, which is less dense in the case of the defocused laser. The relevance of this result to fast ignition inertial confinement fusion is discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Laser-driven micro-Coulomb charge movement and energy conversion to relativistic electrons

Development of robust instrumentation has shown evidence for a multi-μC expulsion of relativistic electrons from a sub-μm-thick foil, laser illuminated with 60–70 J on target at 2 × 10 20 W/cm 2 . From previous work and with electron spectroscopy, it is seen that an exponential electron energy distribution is accurate enough to calculate the emitted electron charge and energy content. The 5–10- μ C charge for the >100-TW Trident Laser represents the first active measurement of the >50% laser-light-to-electron conversion efficiency. By shorting out the TV/m electric field usually associated with accelerating multi-MeV ions from such targets, one finds that this charge is representative of a multi-MA current of relativistic electrons for diverse applications from electron fast ignition to advanced radiography concepts. Also included with the details of the discoveries of this research, shortcomings of the diagnostics and means of improving their fidelity are discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Numerical study of core formation of asymmetrically driven cone-guided targets

Compression of a directly driven fast ignition cone-sphere target with a finite number of laser beams is numerically studied using a three-dimensional hydrodynamics code IMPACT-3D. The formation of a dense plasma core is simulated for 12-, 9-, 6-, and 4-beam configurations of the GEKKO XII laser. The complex 3D shapes of the cores are analyzed by elucidating synthetic 2D x-ray radiographic images in two orthogonal directions. Finally, the simulated x-ray images show significant differences in the core shape between the two viewing directions and rotation of the stagnating core axis in the top view for the axisymmetric 9- and 6-beam configurations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Observation of extremely strong shock waves in solids launched by petawatt laser heating

Understanding hydrodynamic phenomena driven by fast electron heating is important for a range of applications including fast electron collimation schemes for fast ignition and the production and study of hot, dense matter. In this work, detailed numerical simulations modelling the heating, hydrodynamic evolution, and extreme ultra-violet (XUV) emission in combination with experimental XUV images indicate shock waves of exceptional strength (200 Mbar) launched due to rapid heating of materials via a petawatt laser. In conclusion, we discuss in detail the production of synthetic XUV images and how they assist us in interpreting experimental XUV images captured at 256 eV using a multi-layer spherical mirror.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Effect of target material on relativistic electron beam transport

A computational study using the hybrid-PIC code ZUMA investigated the transport of a fast electron beam (55 J, 10 13 A/cm 2 ) produced at Titan laser conditions (λ=1 µm, 0.7 ps, 10 20 W/cm 2 ) in materials ranging from low to high atomic number, specifically fast electron stopping and the evolution of resistive magnetic fields. Fast electron energy loss due to stopping was similar in Al, Cu, and Ag (21 - 27 %) and much higher in Au (54 %). Ohmic stopping was found to dominate over collisional stopping in all materials except Au. Resistive magnetic field growth was shown to depend on the dynamic competition between the resistivity and resistivity gradient source terms in Faraday’s Law. Moreover, the dependence of these terms on the background material ionization state and temperature evolution is presented. The advantages of mid-Z materials for collimation are discussed, as well as the implications for collimation at fast ignition conditions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

A ten-inch manipulator (TIM) based fast-electron spectrometer with multiple viewing angles (OU-ESM)

The measurement of angularly resolved energy distributions of MeV electrons is vital for gaining a better understanding of the interaction of ultra-intense laser pulses with plasma, especially for fast-ignition laser-fusion research. It is also important when evaluating the production of suprathermal (several 10-keV) electrons through laser-plasma instabilities in conventional hot-spot-ignition and shock-ignition research. For these purposes, we developed a ten-inch manipulator-based multichannel electron spectrometer — the Osaka University electron spectrometer (OU-ESM) — that combines angular resolution with high-energy resolution. The OU-ESM consists of five small electron spectrometers set at every 5°, with an energy range from ~40 keV to ~40 MeV. A low-magnetic-field option provides a higher spectral resolution for an energy range of up to ~5 MeV. We successfully gained angularly resolved electron spectra for various experiments on the OMEGA and OMEGA EP Laser Systems.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2015

High-contrast laser acceleration of relativistic electrons in solid cone-wire targets

Optimization of electron coupling into small solid angles is of extreme importance to applications, such as Fast Ignition, that require maximum electron energy deposition within a small volume. To optimize this coupling, we use the ultra-high-contrast Trident laser, which remains below intensity of 10 11 W/cm 2 until < 0.1 ns before the main pulse, while still attaining high-energy, 75 J, and peak intensity of 5 x 10 19 W/cm 2 . Using a cone-wire target, we find that the coupling into the 40 μm diameter wire is increased by a factor of 2.7x over the low-contrast Titan laser at similar peak intensity. Full-scale simulations are used to model the laser interaction and quantitatively reproduce the experimental results. These show that increase in coupling is due to both a closer interaction, as well as the reduction of laser filamentation and self-focusing.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Self-consistent feedback mechanism for the sudden viscous dissipation of finite-Mach-number compressing turbulence

Previous work [Davidovits and Fisch, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 105004 (2016)] demonstrated that the compression of a turbulent field can lead to a sudden viscous dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), and that paper suggested this mechanism could potentially be used to design new fast-ignition schemes for inertial confinement fusion (ICF). We expand on previous work here by accounting for finite Mach numbers, rather than relying on a zero-Mach-limit assumption as previously done. The finite-Mach-number formulation is necessary to capture a self-consistent feedback mechanism in which dissipated TKE increases the temperature of the system, which in turn modifies the viscosity and thus the TKE dissipation itself. Direct numerical simulations with a tenth-order accurate Padé scheme were carried out to analyze this self-consistent feedback loop for compressing turbulence. Results show that, for finite Mach numbers, the sudden viscous dissipation of TKE still occurs, for both the solenoidal and dilatational turbulent fields. As the domain is compressed, oscillations in dilatational TKE are encountered due to the highly oscillatory nature of the pressure dilatation. An analysis of the source terms for the internal energy shows that the mechanical-work term dominates the viscous turbulent dissipation. As a result, the effect of the suddenly dissipated TKE on temperature is minimal for the Mach numbers tested. Moreover, an analytical expression is derived that confirms the dissipated TKE does not significantly alter the temperature evolution for low Mach numbers, regardless of compression speed. The self-consistent feedback mechanism is thus quite weak for subsonic turbulence, which could limit its applicability for ICF.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2016

Sudden Viscous Dissipation of Compressing Turbulence

Here we report compression of turbulent plasma can amplify the turbulent kinetic energy, if the compression is fast compared to the viscous dissipation time of the turbulent eddies. A sudden viscous dissipation mechanism is demonstrated, whereby this amplified turbulent kinetic energy is rapidly converted into thermal energy, suggesting a new paradigm for fast ignition inertial fusion.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Collimated Propagation of Fast Electron Beams Accelerated by High-Contrast Laser Pulses in Highly Resistive Shocked Carbon

In this study, collimated transport of ultrahigh intensity electron current was observed in cold and in laser-shocked vitreous carbon, in agreement with simulation predictions. The fast electron beams were created by coupling high-intensity and high-contrast laser pulses onto copper-coated cones drilled into the carbon samples. The guiding mechanism—observed only for times before the shock breakout at the inner cone tip—is due to self-generated resistive magnetic fields of ~ 0.5–1 kT arising from the intense currents of fast electrons in vitreous carbon, by virtue of its specific high resistivity over the range of explored background temperatures. The spatial distribution of the electron beams, injected through the samples at different stages of compression, was characterized by side-on imaging of hard x-ray fluorescence.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2025

Optical Imaging of Laser-Driven Fast Electron Weibel-like Filamentation in Overcritical Density Plasma

We report on the measurement of filamented transport of laser-generated fast electron beams in near-critical density plasma. A relativistic intensity long-wave-infrared laser irradiated a hydrodynamically shaped helium gas flow at an electron density n e ≃ 10 25 m − 3 , generating a large flux of fast electrons that propagated beyond the critical surface. The beam-to-background electron density ratio was sufficiently high to drive growth of Weibel-like filamentation, which was measured by optical probing to extend up to 800 μ m with radii ∼ 10 μ m . Particle-in-cell simulations reproduce the main features of the filamentation generation, suggesting that collisionless processes are dominant in these interactions. Expansion of the filaments after formation infers a fast electron heated plasma temperature ∼ 400 eV in the overcritical density plasma. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2016

WarpIV: In situ visualization and analysis of ion accelerator simulations

The generation of short pulses of ion beams through the interaction of an intense laser with a plasma sheath offers the possibility of compact and cheaper ion sources for many applications--from fast ignition and radiography of dense targets to hadron therapy and injection into conventional accelerators. To enable the efficient analysis of large-scale, high-fidelity particle accelerator simulations using the Warp simulation suite, the authors introduce the Warp In situ Visualization Toolkit (WarpIV). WarpIV integrates state-of-the-art in situ visualization and analysis using VisIt with Warp, supports management and control of complex in situ visualization and analysis workflows, and implements integrated analytics to facilitate query- and feature-based data analytics and efficient large-scale data analysis. WarpIV enables for the first time distributed parallel, in situ visualization of the full simulation data using high-performance compute resources as the data is being generated by Warp. The authors describe the application of WarpIV to study and compare large 2D and 3D ion accelerator simulations, demonstrating significant differences in the acceleration process in 2D and 3D simulations. WarpIV is available to the public via https://bitbucket.org/berkeleylab/warpiv. The Warp In situ Visualization Toolkit (WarpIV) supports large-scale, parallel, in situ visualization and analysis and facilitates query- and feature-based analytics, enabling for the first time high-performance analysis of large-scale, high-fidelity particle accelerator simulations while the data is being generated by the Warp simulation suite. Furthermore, this supplemental material https://extras.computer.org/extra/mcg2016030022s1.pdf provides more details regarding the memory profiling and optimization and the Yee grid recentering optimization results discussed in the main article.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Divergence of E beam in 100-TW Trident Experiments

Divergence of E beam in 100-TW Trident Experiments Determination of the divergence of the relativistic electron beam is critical to estimation of the total electron current arising from thin-foil targets at the Trident Laser Facility. This has relevance for electron fast ignition, as well as for other possible uses of this short-pulse technology such as ion acceleration. We have collected data to answer this question with the scheme drawn in Fig. 1. The 370-nm TPX target, illuminated with a FWHM power of 75 TW for shot 23750, saw a nominal irradiance of 1.9 x 10 20 W/cm 2 .

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗