Publications Details

Characterization of an imploding cylindrical plasma for electron transport studies using x-ray emission spectroscopy

Dozieres, M.; Hansen, Stephanie B.; Forestier-Colleoni, P.; Mcguffey, C.; Kawahito, D.; Bailly-Grandvaux, M.; Bhutwala, K.; Krauland, C.M.; Wei, M.S.; Gourdain, P.; Davies, Peter B.; Matsuo, K.; Fujioka, S.; Campbell, E.M.; Peebles, J.L.; Santos, J.J.; Batani J, Zhang S.; Beg, F.N.

We report on the characterization of the conditions of an imploding cylindrical plasma by time-resolved x-ray emission spectroscopy. Knowledge about this implosion platform can be applied to studies of particle transport for inertial confinement fusion schemes or to astrophysical plasmas. A cylindrical Cl-doped CH foam within a tube of solid CH was irradiated by 36 beams (Itotal ∼5 × 1014 W/cm2, 1.5 ns square pulse, and Etotal ∼16.2 kJ) of the OMEGA-60 laser to radially compress the CH toward the axis. The analysis of the time-resolved spectra showed that the compression can be described by four distinct phases, each presenting different plasma conditions. First the ablation of the cylinder is dominant; second, the foam is heated and induces a significant jump in emission intensities; third, the temperature and density of the foam reaches a maximum; and finally, the plasma expands. Ranges for the plasma temperature were inferred with the atomic physics code SCRAM (Spectroscopic Collisional-Radiative Atomic Model) and the experimental data have been compared to hydrodynamic simulations performed with the 2D code FLASH, which showed a similar implosion dynamic over time.