Observations of the collapse of asymmetrically driven convergent shocks

The collapse of strong convergent shocks in spherical geometry is observed using measurements of induced nuclear production and x-ray emission. Precise and absolute measurements of the timing and yield of nuclear production induced by the collapse of laser-driven shocks give the same results when sh...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physics of plasmas 2008-03, Vol.15 (3), p.034505-034505-4
Main Authors: Rygg, J. R., Frenje, J. A., Li, C. K., Séguin, F. H., Petrasso, R. D., Marshall, F. J., Delettrez, J. A., Knauer, J. P., Meyerhofer, D. D., Stoeckl, C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ASYMMETRY
BRIGHTNESS
EMISSION
GEOMETRY
ILLUMINANCE
LASERS
PLASMA
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA PRODUCTION
SHOCK WAVES
SPHERICAL CONFIGURATION
X RADIATION
YIELDS
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The collapse of strong convergent shocks in spherical geometry is observed using measurements of induced nuclear production and x-ray emission. Precise and absolute measurements of the timing and yield of nuclear production induced by the collapse of laser-driven shocks give the same results when shocks are launched by uniform ( < 2 % rms ) or nonuniform (up to 32% rms) laser illumination. The observation was repeated for both low-mode (dominated by spherical harmonic modes ℓ = 1 – 2 ) and high-mode ( ℓ = 31 – 500 ) drive asymmetries. For low-mode nonuniform drive, the center of collapse as observed through x-ray emission shifts away from target center toward the direction of low intensity. The x-ray emission brightness is seen to drop precipitously with larger low-mode drive asymmetry, in stark contrast to the drive-uniformity insensitivity of nuclear yields at the time of shock collapse.
ISSN:1070-664X
1089-7674
DOI:10.1063/1.2892025