Optimal laser intensity profiles for a uniform target illumination in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion. (2nd December 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Temporal, Mauro; Canaud, Benoit; Garbett, Warren J.; Ramis, Rafael
• Is Part Of: High power laser science and engineering. Volume 2 (2014)
• Publication Date: 2014-12-02
• Subjects: direct drive, -- inertial confinement fusion, -- laser system; High power lasers -- Periodicals; 621.366
• DOI: 10.1017/hpl.2014.42
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2095-4719

Abstract

Abstract: A numerical method providing the optimal laser intensity profiles for a direct-drive inertial confinement fusion scheme has been developed. The method provides an alternative approach to phase-space optimization studies, which can prove computationally expensive. The method applies to a generic irradiation configuration characterized by an arbitrary number $N_{B}$ of laser beams provided that they irradiate the whole target surface, and thus goes beyond previous analyses limited to symmetric configurations. The calculated laser intensity profiles optimize the illumination of a spherical target. This paper focuses on description of the method, which uses two steps: first, the target irradiation is calculated for initial trial laser intensities, and then in a second step the optimal laser intensities are obtained by correcting the trial intensities using the calculated illumination. A limited number of example applications to direct drive on the Laser MegaJoule (LMJ) are described.