Experiments examining the amount of specular reflection (or “glint”) within hohlraums containing different gas fill densities have recently been performed. Simulations of these experiments are presented that show using a single flux limiter cannot explain the decrease in glinted power with increasing gas fill density. The hypothesis that flow-induced beam deflection alters laser absorption is presented. A model is proposed that can be implemented into a ray tracing description of the laser commonly used in radiation hydrodynamic codes. It is shown that simulations using this model capture the trend with gas fill density improving agreement with measurements. This formulation is then applied to an ensemble of laser-driven inertial confinement fusion experiments performed at the National Ignition Facility. The proposed model shows little impact on the total x-ray drive on the capsule but a large impact on the resulting implosion symmetry.

On December 5, 2022, an indirect drive fusion implosion on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) achieved a target gain G_{target} of 1.5. This is the first laboratory demonstration of exceeding "scientific breakeven" (or G_{target}>1) where 2.05 MJ of 351 nm laser light produced 3.1 MJ of total fusion yield, a result which significantly exceeds the Lawson criterion for fusion ignition as reported in a previous NIF implosion [H. Abu-Shawareb et al. (Indirect Drive ICF Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 075001 (2022)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.129.075001]. This achievement is the culmination of more than five decades of research and gives proof that laboratory fusion, based on fundamental physics principles, is possible. This Letter reports on the target, laser, design, and experimental advancements that led to this result.

The inertial confinement fusion program relies upon detailed simulations with inertial confinement fusion (ICF) codes to design targets and to interpret the experimental results. These simulations treat as much physics from essential principles as is practical, including laser deposition, cross beam energy transfer, x-ray production and transport, nonlocal thermal equilibrium kinetics, thermal transport, hydrodynamic instabilities, thermonuclear burn, and transport of reaction products. Improvements in radiation hydrodynamic code capabilities and vast increases in computing power have enabled more realistic, accurate 3D simulations that treat all known asymmetry sources. We describe how numerical simulations helped to guide the program, assess the impediments to breakeven, and optimize every aspect of target design. A preshot simulation of the first National Ignition Facility experiment that surpassed breakeven predicted an increased yield that matches the experimental result, within the preshot predicted uncertainty, with a target gain of 1.5. We will cover the key developments in Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ICF codes that enabled these simulations and give specific examples of how they helped to guide the program.

For more than half a century, researchers around the world have been engaged in attempts to achieve fusion ignition as a proof of principle of various fusion concepts. As recently reported, a burning plasma state, where the alpha-heating in the plasma is the primary source of heating, was achieved in laboratory experiments. Following the Lawson criterion, an ignited plasma is one where the fusion heating power is high enough to overcome all the physical processes that cool the fusion plasma, creating a positive thermodynamic feedback loop with rapidly increasing temperature. In inertially confined fusion, ignition is a state where the fusion plasma can begin ``burn propagation'' into surrounding cold fuel, enabling the possibility of high energy gain. While ``scientific breakeven'' (i.e. unity target gain) has not yet been achieved, this talk reports the first controlled fusion experiment on the National Ignition Facility to produce capsule gain greater than unity (here 5.8) and reach ignition by many different formulations of the Lawson criterion. In the talk, we will discuss some key basic physics inertial confinement fusion (ICF) principles behind the burning plasma and ignition results as well as discuss future challenges.

This erratum corrects measurements of the prompt and secondary (from-b).

The effects of laser-plasma interactions (LPI) on the dynamics of inertial confinement fusion hohlraums are investigated via a new approach that self-consistently couples reduced LPI models into radiation-hydrodynamics numerical codes. The interplay between hydrodynamics and LPI-specifically stimulated Raman scatter and crossed-beam energy transfer (CBET)-mostly occurs via momentum and energy deposition into Langmuir and ion acoustic waves. This spatially redistributes energy coupling to the target, which affects the background plasma conditions and thus, modifies laser propagation. This model shows reduced CBET and significant laser energy depletion by Langmuir waves, which reduce the discrepancy between modeling and data from hohlraum experiments on wall x-ray emission and capsule implosion shape.

We present a novel method for the solution of the diffusion equation on a composite AMR mesh. This approach is suitable for including diffusion based physics modules to hydrocodes that support ALE and AMR capabilities. To illustrate, we proffer our implementations of diffusion based radiation transport and heat conduction in a hydrocode called ALE-AMR. Numerical experiments conducted with the diffusion solver and associated physics packages yield 2nd order convergence in the L-2 norm.

A wide range of targets with laser energies spanning two orders of magnitude have been shot at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The National Ignition Campaign (NIC) targets are cryogenic with Si supports and cooling rings attached to an Al Thermo-Mechanical Package (TMP) with a thin (30 micron) Au hohlraum inside. Particular attention is placed on the low-energy shots where the TMP is not completely vaporized. In addition to NIC targets, a range of other targets has also been fielded on NIF. For all targets, simulations play a critical role in determining if the risks associated with debris and shrapnel are acceptable. In a number of cases, experiments were redesigned, based on simulations, to reduce risks or to obtain data. The majority of these simulations were done using the ALE-AMR code, which provides efficient late-time (100 – 1000 X the pulse duration) 3 D calculations of complex NIF targets.

Using 467 fb − 1 of e + e − annihilation data collected with the B A B AR detector, we measure B ( τ − → µ − ν µ ν τ ) B ( τ − → e − ν e ν τ ) =(0 . 9796 ± 0 . 0016 ± 0 . 0036), B ( − → π ) B ( τ − → e − ν e ν τ ) =(0 . 5945 ± 0 . 0014 ± 0 . 0061), and B ( τ − → K − ν τ ) B ( τ − → e − ν e ν τ ) =(0 . 03882 ± 0 . 00032 ± 0 . 00057), where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. From these precision τ measurements, we test the Standard Model assumption of µ - e and τ - µ charge current lepton universality and provide determinations of | V us | experimentally independent of the decay of a kaon.

Absolute luminosity measurements are of general interest for colliding-beam experiments at storage rings. These measurements are necessary to determine the absolute cross-sections of reaction processes and are valuable to quantify the performance of the accelerator. Using data taken in 2010, LHCb has applied two methods to determine the absolute scale of its luminosity measurements for proton-proton collisions at the LHC with a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. In addition to the classic "van der Meer scan" method a novel technique has been developed which makes use of direct imaging of the individual beams using beam-gas and beam-beam interactions. This beam imaging method is made possible by the high resolution of the LHCb vertex detector and the close proximity of the detector to the beams, and allows beam parameters such as positions, angles and widths to be determined. The results of the two methods have comparable precision and are in good agreement. Combining the two methods, an overal precision of 3.5% in the absolute luminosity determination is reached. The techniques used to transport the absolute luminosity calibration to the full 2010 data-taking period are presented.

The production of J/psi pairs in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV has been observed using an integrated luminosity of 37.5 pb(-1) collected with the LHCb detector. The production cross-section for pairs with both J/psi in the rapidity range 2 < y(J/psi) < 4.5 and transverse momentum p(T)(J/psi) < 10 GeV/c issigma(J/psi J/psi) = 5.1 +/- 1.0 +/- 1.1 nb,where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. (C) 2011 CERN. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Measurement of mixing-induced CP violation in (B) over bar (0)(s) decays is of prime importance in probing new physics. So far only the channel (B) over bar (0)(s) -> J/psi phi has been used. Here we report on a measurement using an LHCb data sample of 0.41 fb(-1), in the CP odd eigenstate J/psi f(0)(980), where f(0)(980) -> pi(+)pi(-). A time-dependent fit of the data with the (B) over bar (0)(s) lifetime and the difference in widths of the heavy and light eigenstates constrained to the values obtained from (B) over bar (0)(s) -> J/psi phi yields a value of the CP violating phase of -0.44 +/- 0.44 +/- 0.02 rad, consistent with the Standard Model expectation. (C) 2012 CERN. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.