At ignition scale experiments on NIF of next generation MagLIF laser preheat

Development of a cryogenic and magnetized gas pipe platform is underway at NIF. Experiments have been done into unmagnetized, room temperature, hydrocarbon and cryogenic D2 gases of densities that span 1.6 mg/cc to 4.8 mg/cc (5% to 16% critical electron density). 30 kJ of energy from one quad have been delivered into a oval spot of 1580 micron mean diameter over a time of about 11 ns with a power 2 TW and an intensity of 2x10¹⁴ W/cm². A large fraction of the laser energy has been absorbed by Inverse Bremsstrahlung absorption over the 1 cm length of the gas pipe. Temperatures of up to about 1300 eV have been reached in the core. Raman and Brillouin backscatter were measured to be "low" on all shots. Experiments in FY19 are planned that will apply a magnetic field of up to 30 Tesla along the axis of the laser deposition for warm hydrocarbons. Applying a magnetic field to the cryogenic D2 gas is possible in future years. These experiments are focused on doing "to ignition scale" Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion (MagLIF) laser preheat experiments for the next generation pulse power machine.