Design of Thomson Scattering System on the Plasma Liner Experiment

The Plasma Liner Experiment (PLX) is a proof-of-concept experiment for Plasma-Jet driven Magneto-Inertial Fusion (PJMIF) application. It uses supersonic imploding plasma liner for compressing magnetized plasma fuel to fusion temperatures and pressures. Its main goal is to explore the physics of the formation of a spherical plasma liner and it is being jointly developed by HyperJet Fusion and Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL).

A Nd:YAG Thomson scattering system is being designed and implemented at PLX for measuring the plasma target temperature profile. This measurement is essential for an investigation of the transport physics related to the merging of a discrete number of jets that form the spherical plasma liner and target, as well as for the complete characterization of the parameter space spanned by the PLX. The system must overcome challenges that arise from the unique machine design, low energy of the pulsed laser (< 0.6J) and and the supersonic nature of the plasma flow. Here, we report an overview and a present status of the development and construction of the new Thomson scattering system for PLX.