Integrated Fast-Ignition Core-Heating Experiments on OMEGA

Integrated fast-ignition core-heating experiments are carried out at the Omega Laser Facility. Plastic (CD) shell targets with a re-entrant gold cone are compressed with a $\sim $20{\-}kJ, UV low-adiabat laser pulse. A 1-kJ, 10-ps pulse from OMEGA EP generates fast electrons in the hollow cone that are transported into the compressed core. The experiments demonstrate a significant enhancement of the neutron yield. The neutron-yield enhancement caused by the high-intensity pulse is 1.5 $\times $ 10$^{7}$, which is more than 150{\%} of the implosion yield. For the first time, measurements of the breakout time of the compression-induced shock wave through the cone were performed for the same targets as used in the integrated experiments. The shock breakout was measured to be $\sim $100 ps after peak neutron production. The experiments demonstrate that the cone tip is intact at the time when the short-pulse laser interacts with the cone. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Inertial Confinement Fusion under Cooperative Agreement Nos. DE-FC52-08NA28302, DE-FC02-04ER54789, and DE-FG02-05ER54839. \\[4pt] In collaboration with A. A. Solodov, K. S. Anderson, R. Betti (LLE/FSC); C. Stoeckl, T.R. Boehly, R.S. Craxton, J.A. Delettrez, V.Yu. Glebov, J.P. Knauer, F.J. Marshall, K.L. Marshall, D.D. Meyerhofer,$^{ }$P.M. Nilson, T.C. Sangster, W. Seka (LLE); F.N. Beg (UCSD), H. Habara (ILE), P.K. Patel (LLNL), R.B. Stephens (GA); J.A. Frenje, N. Sinenian (PSFC/MIT).