xRAGE simulation modeling of hot electron and radiation preheat effects in laser-shocked 3D-printed lattice experiments on Omega

A challenge in the field of high-energy-density physics is the development of a predictive framework for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments—which are inherently complex multi-physics systems. In many ICF systems, laser-plasma-interactions at high laser intensities generate hot electrons, which transport over long length scales to produce deleterious effects such as preheat.

In this talk, we will describe the implementation and application of a hot electron source term in the radiation hydrodynamics code, xRAGE. This multigroup hot electron source term is added to the reduced-order nonlocal transport model by Schurtz, Nicolaï and Busquet—referred to as SNB. We apply the source term towards 2D cylindrical modeling of Omega laser shocktube experiments with heterogeneous lattice foams¹, comparing shock speeds and radiographs from simulation and experiment. We find that the primary preheat mechanisms in this experiment are laser-driven hard X-rays and hot electrons. To match simulation and experimental measurables, we estimate the hot electron preheat energy to be ~2-4% of the delivered laser energy.



¹R.W. Vandervort, N. Christiansen, et al., “Observation of laser-driven and shock-driven preheat effects on 3D-printed, two-photon polymerization plastic lattices” High Energy Density Physics, In Press

LA-UR-25-27436