The basic energy balance model is applied to analyze the hohlraum energetics data from the Shenguang (SG) series laser facilities and the National Ignition Facility (NIF) experiments published in the past few years. The analysis shows that the overall hohlraum energetics data are in agreement with the energy balance model within 20% deviation. The 20% deviation might be caused by the diversity in hohlraum parameters, such as material, laser pulse, gas filling density, etc. In addition, the NIF's ignition target designs and our ignition target designs given by simulations are also in accordance with the energy balance model. This work confirms the value of the energy balance model for ignition target design and experimental data assessment, and demonstrates that the NIF energy is enough to achieve ignition if a 1D spherical radiation drive could be created, meanwhile both the laser plasma instabilities and hydrodynamic instabilities could be suppressed.

X-ray drive asymmetry is one of the main seeds of low-mode implosion asymmetry that blocks further improvement of the nuclear performance of “high-foot” experiments on the National Ignition Facility [Miller et al., Nucl. Fusion 44, S228 (2004)]. More particularly, the P2 asymmetry of Au's M-band flux can also severely influence the implosion performance of ignition capsules [Li et al., Phys. Plasmas 23, 072705 (2016)]. Here we study the smoothing effect of mid- and/or high-Z dopants in ablator on Au's M-band flux asymmetries, by modeling and comparing the implosion processes of a Ge-doped ignition capsule and a Si-doped one driven by X-ray sources with P2 M-band flux asymmetry. As the results, (1) mid- or high-Z dopants absorb hard X-rays (M-band flux) and re-emit isotropically, which helps to smooth the asymmetric Mband flux arriving at the ablation front, therefore reducing the P2 asymmetries of the imploding shell and hot spot; (2) the smoothing effect of Ge-dopant is more remarkable than Si-dopant because its opacity in Au's M-band is higher than the latter's; and (3) placing the doped layer at a larger radius in ablator is more efficient. Applying this effect may not be a main measure to reduce the low-mode implosion asymmetry, but might be of significance in some critical situations such as inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments very near the performance cliffs of asymmetric X-ray drives.

The octahedral spherical hohlraums have natural superiority in maintaining high radiation symmetry during the entire capsule implosion process in indirect drive inertial confinement fusion. While, in contrast to the cylindrical hohlraums, the narrow space between the laser beams and the spherical hohlraum wall is usually commented. In this Letter, we address this crucial issue and report our experimental work conducted on the SGIII-prototype laser facility which unambiguously demonstrates that a simple design of cylindrical laser entrance hole (LEH) can dramatically improve the laser propagation inside the spherical hohlraums. In addition, the laser beam deflection in the hohlraum is observed for the first time in the experiments. Our 2-dimensional simulation results also verify qualitatively the advantages of the spherical hohlraums with cylindrical LEHs. Our results imply the prospect of adopting the cylindrical LEHs in future spherical ignition hohlraum design.

Corrigendum Text: On page 2 of this letter, there is a misprint in the unit. The unit of the geometrical dimension of the spherical hohlraums on this page should always be “mm” rather than “mm”, i.e. in the second paragraph, “…with 800 J per beam at 0.35 mm…” should be “…with 800 J per beam at 0.35 μm…”, “The slit of 400 mm width is parallel…” should be “The slit of 400 μm width is parallel…”, “The laser focal diameter is about 500 mm…” should be “The laser focal diameter is about 500 μm…”; in the third paragraph, “…we take 850 μm as the radius…” should be “…we take 850 mm as the radius…”, “The LEH radius RL is 400 mm…” should be “The LEH radius R_L is 400 μm…”, “…the radius of the cylindrical LEH outer ring is taken as 1.5 R_L = 600 mm” should be “…the radius of the cylindrical LEH outer ring is taken as 1.5 R_L = 600 μm”. This mistake does not affect any of the main results of the original letter.

不同辐射建模对于腔内辐射场描述的精确程度不同,需要分析不同建模对腔内辐射温度的影响。开展了三温建模与辐射多群输运建模下LARED集成程序数值模拟两孔球型黑腔模型,实现了球腔的完整数值模拟。数值模拟结果表明,三温与辐射多群输运模拟的等离子体状态接近,辐射温度存在差异。物理分析显示辐射温度差异的主要原因是使用的辐射不透明度,修改辐射不透明度参数后的三温计算结果与输运计算符合更好,从而可以用三温建模更快更准确地估计出所需的激光能量和功率。

总结了在神光Ⅲ原型激光装置上开展的一系列黑腔物理实验研究, 从多个方面研究了黑腔内部等离子体状态和辐射场特性。用真空黑腔能量学研究获得了散射光、辐射温度和不同能段辐射流份额的定标规律, 从能量学角度梳理和分析了整个激光黑腔相互作用过程。通过对黑腔中充入低密度低Z气体抑制了腔壁等离子体运动, 明显减少了可能造成靶丸预热的金M带辐射流(1.6~4.4 keV)份额。针对黑腔内部不同区域等离子体, 研究了光斑区等离子体的运动, 分析了其与电子热传导限流因子的关系; 研究了冕区等离子体的运动, 分析了不同充气等离子体条件对其的影响; 在同一发次实验中同时测量了光斑区与再发射区的辐射流比值。