Coating and Mandrel Effects on Fabrication of Glow Discharge Polymer NIF Scale Indirect Drive Capsules

OAK A271 COATING AND MANDREL EFFECTS ON FABRICATION OF GLOW DISCHARGE POLYMER NIF SCALE INDIRECT DRIVE CAPSULES. Targets for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) need to be about 200 {micro}m thick and 2 mm in diameter. These dimensions are well beyond those currently fabricated on a routine basis. They have investigated fabrication of near NIF scale targets using the depolymerizable mandrel technique. Poly-alpha-methylstyrene (PAMS) mandrels, about 2 mm in diameter, of varying qualities were coated with as much as 125 {micro}m of glow discharge polymer (GDP). The surface finish of the final shells was examined using a variety of techniques. A clear dependence of the modal spectrum of final GDP shell on the quality of the initial PAMS mandrels was observed. isolated features were found to be the greatest cause for a shell not meeting the NIF standard

Lawson criterion for ignition exceeded in an inertial fusion experiment

For more than half a century, researchers around the world have been engaged in attempts to achieve fusion ignition as a proof of principle of various fusion concepts. Following the Lawson criterion, an ignited plasma is one where the fusion heating power is high enough to overcome all the physical processes that cool the fusion plasma, creating a positive thermodynamic feedback loop with rapidly increasing temperature. In inertially confined fusion, ignition is a state where the fusion plasma can begin "burn propagation" into surrounding cold fuel, enabling the possibility of high energy gain. While "scientific breakeven" (i.e., unity target gain) has not yet been achieved (here target gain is 0.72, 1.37 MJ of fusion for 1.92 MJ of laser energy), this Letter reports the first controlled fusion experiment, using laser indirect drive, on the National Ignition Facility to produce capsule gain (here 5.8) and reach ignition by nine different formulations of the Lawson criterion

Coating and Mandrel Effects on Fabrication of Glow Discharge Polymer Nif Scale Indirect Drive Capsules

OAK A271 COATING AND MANDREL EFFECTS ON FABRICATION OF GLOW DISCHARGE POLYMER NIF SCALE INDIRECT DRIVE CAPSULES. Targets for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) need to be about 200 {micro}m thick and 2 mm in diameter. These dimensions are well beyond those currently fabricated on a routine basis. They have investigated fabrication of near NIF scale targets using the depolymerizable mandrel technique. Poly-alpha-methylstyrene (PAMS) mandrels, about 2 mm in diameter, of varying qualities were coated with as much as 125 {micro}m of glow discharge polymer (GDP). The surface finish of the final shells was examined using a variety of techniques. A clear dependence of the modal spectrum of final GDP shell on the quality of the initial PAMS mandrels was observed. isolated features were found to be the greatest cause for a shell not meeting the NIF standard

PRODUCTION OF HIGHER STRENGTH THIN WALLED GLOW DISCHARGE POLYMER SHELLS FOR CRYOGENIC EXPERIMENTS AT OMEGA

OAK A271 PRODUCTION OF HIGHER STRENGTH THIN WALLED GLOW DISCHARGE POLYMER SHELLS FOR CRYOGENIC EXPERIMENTS AT OMEGA. Thin walled polymer shells are needed for OMEGA cryogenic laser experiments. These capsules need to be about 900 {micro}m in diameter and as thin as possible (approx 1-2 {micro}m), while having enough strength to be filled with DT as fast as possible to about 1000 atm. The authors have found that by optimizing the coating parameters in the glow discharge polymer (GDP) deposition system, traditionally used for making ICF targets, they can routinely make robust, {approx} 1.5 {micro}m thick, 900 {micro}m diameter GDP shells with buckle strengths of over 0.3 atm. This is twice the strength of shells made prior to the optimization and is comparable to values quoted for polyimide shells. In addition, these shells were found to be approximately three times more permeable and over 20% denser than previously made GDP shells. The combination of higher strength and permeability is ideal for direct drive cryogenic targets at OMEGA. Shells as thin as 0.5 {micro}m have been made. In this paper, the authors discuss the shell fabrication process, effects of modifying various GDP deposition parameters on shell properties and chemical composition