Numerical Modeling of LLNL's Au-Sphere experiments on the OMEGA Laser

Experiments performed by LLNL on OMEGA studying X-ray conversion efficiencies for high-Z materials, aimed to confirm hohlraum modeling, resulted in a"liberal" flux limiter value of 0.15 to match simulations with these measurements[1]. This conclusion was re-examined and another model accounting for the effect of Ion Acoustic Turbulence on the thermal electron flux limitation was proposed[2]. Our work continues to explore relevant physical parameters in modeling these experiments using the HYADES and FLORENCE codes[3]. The sensitivity of laser absorption, X-ray emission and corona electron temperature to the electron flux limiter, inverse bremsstrahlung coefficient, resonant absorption in the critical layer, LTE and NLTE atomic physics and a numerical convergence study due to steep density and electron temperature profiles at the critical layer will be discussed. Additionally, alternative experimental designs, such as an ``onion'' configuration of plastic and gold as well as different laser illumination patterns, were studied. [1] Dewald, E.L., et al., \textit{Phys. of Plasmas 15}, 072706 (2008). [2] Rosen M.D. et al., presented at the 2015 APS/DPP conference. [3] Y. Frank et al., Phys. Rev. E 92, 053111 (2015)