Magnetically-assisted ignition project on the National Ignition Facility

We are planning a project to apply an external magnetic field to a high performing DT-layered implosion on the NIF. The magnetic field can reduce hot-spot losses through reduced electron thermal conduction and increased alpha particle confinement. In addition, it may suppress mix instabilities. Two dimensional simulations show that applying a $\ge$ 30 T field to an experiment already performed on NIF can lead to hot-spot conditions significantly in the self-heating regime. Magnetizing an indirect drive target requires development of specialized hohlraums with high electrical resistivity while maintaining good x-ray conversion of laser drive. This talk will review the key physics goals and project challenges and outline the research needed to perform a test which quantifies the magnetization improvement in the hot-spot conditions of a DT-layered implosion.