Streaked x-ray radiography images of annular patterns in an evolving tantalum oxide foam under the influence of a driven, subsonic radiation wave were obtained on the National Ignition Facility. This is the first successful radiography measurement of the evolution of well-defined foam features under a driven, subsonic wave in the diffusive regime. A continuous record of the evolution was recorded on an x-ray streak camera, using a slot-apertured point-projection backlighter with an 8 ns nickel source (7.9 keV). Radiography images were obtained for four different annular patterns, which were corrected using a source-dependent flat-field image. The evolution of the foam features was well-modeled using the 3D KULL radiation hydrodynamics code. This experimental and modeling platform can be modified for scaled high-energy-density laboratory astrophysics experiments.

Digital radiography data was collected for NIF RadHohl-09A Target 54 (MMED No.54, NDE No.T54). Three data sets were collected in order to: (1) characterize the relative density uniformity of the tantalum-oxide (Ta{sub 2}O{sub 5}) target material, (2) note readily-observable non-uniform features in the target, and (3) estimate the density of the target material. The Xradia Micro XCT system in B432 was used to collect the data. The system parameters were: (1) source: (a) x-ray energy = 49 kVp; and (b) power and current = 3.3 W and 66 {micro}A; (2) detector: (a) imaging optics magnifications = 4X, 20X; (b) effective pixel widths = 3.0 {micro}m (4X), 0.6 {micro}m (20X); and (c) integration time = 250 secs (5 frame-averaged 50-second integrations).

The summary of this paper are: (1) Digital radiography data was collected for three NIF RadHohl 09C targets in order to characterize the edges of the features placed in the tantalum-oxide (Ta{sub 2}O{sub 5}) target material. (2) Radiographs of an edge for each target were compared for each of three target rotations. (3) Lineouts of the sample pixel values across each edge in each case were generated and plotted. (4) The raw data for the lineouts has been stored in an accompanying Excel file named '20X{_}FeatureEdgeLineouts.xls'. (5) Peter Young is performing a more detailed analysis of the data in an effort to make a comparison between the quality of the edges milled by LLNL and laser cut by GA.

Experiments have been conducted using laser-driven cylindrical hohlraums whose walls are machined from Ta2O5 foams of 100 mg/cc and 4 g/cc densities. Measurements of the radiation temperature demonstrate that the lower density walls produce higher radiation temperatures than the high density walls. This is the first experimental demonstration of the prediction that this would occur [M. D. Rosen and J. H. Hammer, Phys. Rev. E 72, 056403 (2005)10.1103/PhysRevE.72.056403]. For high density walls, the radiation front propagates subsonically, and part of the absorbed energy is wasted by the flow kinetic energy. For the lower wall density, the front velocity is supersonic and can devote almost all of the absorbed energy to heating the wall.

We have successfully demonstrated a 7.5 ns duration pinhole-apertured backlighter at the Omega laser facility. Pinhole-apertured point-projection backlighting for 8 ns will be useful for imaging evolving features in experiments at the National Ignition Facility. The backlighter consisted of a 20 microm diameter pinhole in a 75 microm thick Ta substrate separated from a Zn emitter (9 keV) by a 400 microm thick high-density carbon piece. The carbon prevented the shock from the laser-driven surface from reaching the substrate before 8 ns and helped minimize x-ray ablation of the pinhole substrate. Grid wires in x-ray framing camera images of a gold grid have a source-limited resolution significantly smaller than the pinhole diameter due to the high aspect ratio of the pinhole, but do not become much smaller at late times.

An experimental campaign to maximize radiation drive in small-scale hohlraums has been carried out at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawerence Livermore National Laboratory (Livermore, CA, USA) and at the OMEGA laser at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (Rochester, NY, USA). The small-scale hohlraums, laser energy, laser pulse, and diagnostics were similar at both facilities but the geometries were very different. The NIF experiments used on-axis laser beams whereas the OMEGA experiments used 19 beams in three beam cones. In the cases when the lasers coupled well and produced similar radiation drive, images of x-ray bumthrough and laser deposition indicate the pattern of plasma filling is very different.

The soft x-ray imager (SXRI) built for the first experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) has four soft x-ray channels and one hard x-ray channel. The SXRI is a snout that mounts to a four strip gated imager. This produces four soft x-ray images per strip, which can be separated in time by ∼60ps. Each soft x-ray channel consists of a mirror plus a filter. The diagnostic was used to study x-ray burnthrough of hot Hohlraum targets at the NIF and OMEGA lasers. The SXRI snout design and issues involved in selecting the desired soft x-ray channels are discussed.

Deposition of maximum laser energy into a small, high-Z enclosure in a short laser pulse creates a hot environment. Such targets were recently included in an experimental campaign using the first four of the 192 beams of the National Ignition Facility [J. A. Paisner, E. M. Campbell, and W. J. Hogan, Fusion Technology 26, 755 (1994)], under construction at the University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. These targets demonstrate good laser coupling, reaching a radiation temperature of 340 eV. In addition, the Raman backscatter spectrum contains features consistent with Brillouin backscatter of Raman forward scatter [A. B. Langdon and D. E. Hinkel, Physical Review Letters 89, 015003 (2002)]. Also, NIF Early Light diagnostics indicate that 20% of the direct backscatter from these reduced-scale targets is in the polarization orthogonal to that of the incident light.

Experimental results are presented for an adaptive optics system based on a quadrature Twyman-Green interferometric wave-front sensor. The system uses a circularly polarized reference beam to form two interferograms with a pi/2 phase shift. The experiments conducted used Kolmogorov phase screens to simulate atmospheric phase distortions. Strehl ratio improvements by a factor of 8, to an absolute value of 0.45, are demonstrated.

The achievable Strehl ratio when a finite-bit correction to an aberrated wave front is implemented is examined. The phase-conjugate engine used to measure the aberrated wave front consists of a quadrature interferometric wave-front sensor, a liquid-crystal spatial light modulator, and computer hardware-software to calculate and apply the correction. A finite-bit approximation to the conjugate phase is calculated and applied to the spatial light modulator to remove the aberrations from the optical beam. The experimentally determined Strehl ratio of the corrected beam is compared with analytical expressions for the expected Strehl ratio and shown to be in good agreement with those predictions.

The first experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) have employed the first four beams to measure propagation and laser backscattering losses in large ignition-size plasmas. Gas-filled targets between 2 and 7 mm length have been heated from one side by overlapping the focal spots of the four beams from one quad operated at 351 nm (3omega) with a total intensity of 2 x 10(15) W cm(-2). The targets were filled with 1 atm Of CO2 producing up to 7 mm long homogeneously heated plasmas with densities of n(e) = 6 x 10(20) cm(-3) and temperatures of T-e = 2 keV. The high energy in an NIF quad of beams of 16kJ, illuminating the target from one direction, creates unique conditions for the study of laser-plasma interactions at scale lengths not previously accessible. The propagation through the large-scale plasma was measured with a gated x-ray imager that was filtered for 3.5 keV x-rays. These data indicate that the beams interact with the full length of this ignition-scale plasma during the last similar to1 ns of the experiment. During that time, the full aperture measurements of the stimulated Brillouin scattering and stimulated Raman scattering show scattering into the four focusing lenses of 3% for the smallest length (similar to2 mm), increasing to 10-12% for similar to7 mm. These results demonstrate the NIF experimental capabilities and further provide a benchmark for three-dimensional modelling of the laser-plasma interactions at ignition-size scale lengths.

Results of atmospheric propagation for a high-speed, large-actuator-number adaptive optics system are presented. The system uses a microelectromechanical system- (MEMS-) based spatial light modulator correction device with 1024 actuators. Tests over a 1.35-km path achieved correction speeds in excess of 800 Hz and Strehl ratios close to 0.5. The wave-front sensor was based on a quadrature interferometer that directly measures phase. This technique does not require global wave-front reconstruction, making it relatively insensitive to scintillation and phase residues. The results demonstrate the potential of large-actuator-number MEMS-based spatial light modulators to replace conventional deformable mirrors.

The dependence of stimulated backward and forward scattered light on ion acoustic damping (νi) is measured for the first time in a long scale length He/H2 composition plasma at a density of 0.08 critical for 351-nm laser light. Both the stimulated Raman and Brillouin backscattering decrease with increasing ion acoustic damping. Modeling of the backward scattering agrees with the measurements when the Langmuir and ion acoustic fluctuations saturate at δn/n=0.01 and 0.001, respectively. These low saturation levels cannot be explained using standard nonlinear wave decay saturation mechanisms and may indicate that other saturation mechanisms are active in this plasma. Modeling of the forward scattering agrees qualitatively with the measurements and provides an estimate of the density fluctuations in the plasma.

Measurements of the electron distribution and heat flow between the critical and ablation surfaces in a laser-produced plasma have been obtained using Thomson scattering. A frequency-quadrupled probe beam was used to obtain Thomson spectra at above-critical densities in a plasma produced by irradiation of solid targets with the fundamental laser light at irradiances of 3 × 1014 W cm−2. Comparison of Thomson spectra at the ion acoustic frequency (sensitive to the cold return current) with simulated spectra shows that the data are consistent with Fokker–Planck simulations of the electron distribution function, providing the first direct information on the electron distribution function.

Laboratory breadboard results of a high-speed adaptive-optics system are presented. The wave-front sensor for the adaptive-optics system is based on a quadrature interferometer, which directly measures the turbulence-induced phase aberrations. The spatial light modulator used in the phase-conjugate engine was a microelectromechanical systems-based piston-only correction device with 1024 actuators. Laboratory experiments were conducted with this system utilizing Kolmogorov phase screens to simulate atmospheric phase distortions. The adaptive-optics system achieved correction speeds in excess of 800 Hz and Strehl ratios greater than 0.5 with the Kolmogorov phase screens.