Publications

Nonlinear laser-plasma interaction in magnetized liner inertial fusion

Geissel, Matthias G.; Awe, T.J.; Bliss, David E.; Campbell, Edward M.; Gomez, Matthew R.; Harding, Eric H.; Harvey-Thompson, Adam J.; Hansen, Stephanie B.; Jennings, C.; Kimmel, Mark W.; Knapp, Patrick K.; Lewis, Sean M.; McBride, Ryan D.; Peterson, Kyle J.; Schollmeier, Marius; Scoglietti, Daniel S.; Sefkow, Adam B.; Shores, J.E.; Sinars, Daniel S.; Slutz, S.A.; Smith, Ian C.; Speas, C.S.; Vesey, Roger A.; Porter, John L.

Sandia National Laboratories is pursuing a variation of Magneto-Inertial Fusion called Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion, or MagLIF. The MagLIF approach requires magnetization of the deuterium fuel, which is accomplished by an initial external B-Field and laser-driven pre-heat. While magnetization is crucial to the concept, it is challenging to couple sufficient energy to the fuel, since laser-plasma instabilities exist, and a compromise between laser spot size, laser entrance window thickness, and fuel density must be found. Nonlinear processes in laser plasma interaction, or laser-plasma instabilities (LPI), complicate the deposition of laser energy by enhanced absorption, backscatter, filamentation and beam-spray. Key LPI processes are determined, and mitigation methods are discussed. Results with and without improvement measures are presented.