Investigation of Hohlraum Fields with Monoenergetic Proton and Deuteron Radiography

A better understanding of laser-driven hohlraum plasmas is critical for the continued development and improvement of ICF experiments. For such plasmas, hydrodynamic calculations are successful in describing the evolution of the plasma at early times. However, at late epochs, kinetic effects become dominant and the hydrodynamic description is insufficient. In these hohlraums, self-generated electric and magnetic fields play an important role in determining plasma dynamics and evolution; however, it has largely been uncertain whether electric fields or magnetic fields dominate these systems. To explore this question, we conducted several experiments at the OMEGA laser facility, using tri-particle (DT³He) monoenergetic proton and deuteron radiography to probe laser-driven vacuum-filled gold and plastic hohlraums. In our analysis, we utilized reconstructive methods _­to infer information about the structure of electromagnetic fields in the hohlraum, as well as to quantify the relative magnitudes of proton deflections due to electric and magnetic fields, respectively.