Rayleigh-Taylor growth measurements in the acceleration phase of spherical implosions on OMEGA

• Published in: Physical review letters Vol. 103; no. 10; p. 105001
• Main Authors: Smalyuk, V A, Hu, S X, Hager, J D, Delettrez, J A, Meyerhofer, D D, Sangster, T C, Shvarts, D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 04-09-2009
• Subjects: 07 ISOTOPES AND RADIATION SOURCES; 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; ACCELERATION; CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; CONFIGURATION; CONVERGENCE; ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION; IMPLOSIONS; INDUSTRIAL RADIOGRAPHY; IONIZING RADIATIONS; LASERS; MATERIALS TESTING; NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING; RADIATIONS; SIMULATION; SPHERICAL CONFIGURATION; TESTING; X RADIATION; X-RAY RADIOGRAPHY
• ISSN: 0031-9007; 1079-7114
• DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.103.105001

The Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) growth of 3D broadband nonuniformities was measured using x-ray radiography in spherical plastic shells accelerated by laser light at an intensity of approximately 2 x 10(14) W/cm(2). The 20- and 24-microm-thick spherical shells were imploded with 54 beams on the OMEGA laser system. The shells contained diagnostic openings for backlighter x rays used to image shell modulations. The measured shell trajectories and modulation RT growth were in fair agreement with 2D hydro simulations during the acceleration phase of the implosions with convergence ratios of up to approximately 2.2. Since the ignition designs rely on these simulations, improvements in the numerical codes will be implemented to achieve better agreement with experiments.