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(IF-1) Progress in Direct-Drive Inertial Confinement Fusion Research at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics

R.L. McCrory¹⁾, D.D. Meyerhofer¹⁾, S.J. Loucks¹⁾, S. Skupsky¹⁾, R.E. Bahr¹⁾, R. Betti¹⁾, T.R. Boehly¹⁾, R.S. Craxton¹⁾, T.J.B. Collins¹⁾, J.A. Delettrez¹⁾, W.R. Donaldson¹⁾, R. Epstein¹⁾, J.A. Frenje²⁾, V.YU. Glebov¹⁾, V.N. Goncharov¹⁾, D.R. Harding¹⁾, P.A. Jaanimagi¹⁾, R.L. Keck¹⁾, J.H. Kelly¹⁾, T.J. Kessler¹⁾, J.P. Knauer¹⁾, C.K. Li²⁾, L.D. Lund¹⁾, J.A. Marozas¹⁾, P.W. McKenty¹⁾, F.J. Marshall¹⁾, S.F.B. Morse¹⁾, R.D. Petrasso²⁾, P.B. Radha¹⁾, S.P. Regan¹⁾, S. Roberts¹⁾, T.C. Sangster¹⁾, F.H. Séguin²⁾, W. Seka¹⁾, V.A. Smalyuk¹⁾, C. Sorce^*)1), J.M. Soures¹⁾, C. Stoeckl¹⁾, K.A. Thorp¹⁾, B. Yaakobi¹⁾, J.D. Zuegel^1)
 
1) University of Rochester, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, Rochester, USA
²⁾ Plasma Science and Fusion Center, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
^* Currently at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA

Abstract.  Significant theoretical and experimental progress towards the validation of direct-drive inertial confinement fusion (ICF) has been recently made at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE). Direct-drive ICF offers the potential for high-gain implosions and is a leading candidate for an inertial fusion energy power plant. LLE’s base-line direct-drive ignition design for NIF is an ``all-DT'' design that has a 1-D gain of $\sim$45. Recent calculations show that targets composed of foam shells, wicked with DT, can potentially achieve 1-D gains of $\sim$100. LLE experiments are conducted on the OMEGA 60-beam, 30-kJ, UV laser system. Beam smoothing of OMEGA includes 1-THz, 2-D SSD and polarization smoothing. Cryogenic D2 and plastic shell (warm) spherical targets and a comprehensive suite of x-ray, nuclear, charged particle and optical diagnostics are used in these experiments. Future experiments will use cryogenic DT targets.

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