Session CO1 - Compression and Burn.
ORAL session, Monday afternoon, November 15
Room 201/202, SCC
Direct-drive implosions of cryogenic D_2-filled capsules are being performed on the OMEGA laser. The targets and drive pulses are energy scaled from the baseline direct-drive ignition design developed for the NIF. The cold-fuel areal density (\rhoR) achieved during the burn phase is an important measure of target performance: adequate fuel \rhoR is one of the prerequisites for ``hot-spot'' ignition. On OMEGA, \rhoR's are inferred from the energy loss of D^3He protons. Low-\alpha implosions have produced \rhoR's in excess of 100 mg/cm^2, while high-\alpha experiments have produced yields in excess of 2 \times 10^11. Higher \rhoR's are observed in capsules with smoother inner ice surfaces, and, in general, the inferred \rhoR's agree with 1-D predictions. This talk will summarize the results of several-dozen implosions. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Inertial Confinement Fusion under Cooperative Agreement No. DE-FC52-92SF19460.