The use of beam propagation modeling of Beamlet and Nova to ensure a ``safe`` National Ignition Facility laser system design

Abstract

An exhaustive set of Beamlet and Nova laser system simulations were performed over a wide range of power levels in order to gain understanding about the statistical trends in Nova and Beamlet`s experimental data sets, and to provide critical validation of propagation tools and design ``rules`` applied to the 192-arm National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The experiments considered for modeling were at 220-ps FWHM duration with unpumped booster slabs on Beamlet, and 100-ps FWHM with pumped 31.5-cm and 46-cm disk amplifiers on Nova. Simulations indicated that on Beamlet, the AB (the intensity pendent phase shift parameter characterizing the tendency towards beam filamentation) for the booster amplifier stage without pumping, would be nearly identical to the AB expected on NIF at the peak of a typical 20-ns long shaped pulse intended for ICF target irradiation. Therefore, with energies less than I kJ in short-pulses, we examined on Beamlet the comparable AB-driven filamentation conditions predicted for long ICF pulseshapes in the 18 kJ regime on the NIF, while avoiding fluence dependent surface damage. Various spatial filter pinhole configurations were examined on Nova and Beamlet. Open transport spatial filter pinholes were used in some experiments to allow the direct measurement of the onset of beam filamentation. Schlieren images on Beamlet of the far field irradiance measuring the scattered light fraction outside of 33-{micro}radians were also obtained and compared to modeled results