Fast heating of super-solid density plasmas towards laser fusion ignition

We have studied fast heating of highly compressed plasmas using multi 100 TW laser light. Efficient propagation of the ultra-intense laser light and heating of the imploded plasmas were realized with a cone-attached shell target. Energy deposition rate of the ultra-intense laser pulse into high-dens...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kodama, R, Tanaka, K, Fujioka, S, Fujita, H, Habara, H, Izawa, Y, Jitsuno, T, Kitagawa, Y, Krushelnick, K, Mima, K, Miyanaga, N, Nagai, K, Norreys, P, Norimatsu, T, Shigemori, K, Shiraga, H, Toyama, Y, Zepf, M, Yamanaka, T
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2002
Description
Summary:We have studied fast heating of highly compressed plasmas using multi 100 TW laser light. Efficient propagation of the ultra-intense laser light and heating of the imploded plasmas were realized with a cone-attached shell target. Energy deposition rate of the ultra-intense laser pulse into high-density plasmas was evaluated from neutron measurements. Generation and propagation property of energetic electrons in the ultra-intense laser interactions were also investigated with solid density targets. About 40% of the laser energy converted to mega electron volts energetic electrons in the interactions with solid targets at intensities of 1019W cm-2. These electrons propagated in the high-density plasmas with a divergence of 20-30° or jet-like collimation. Taking account of these experimental results, heating laser spot size is optimized for laser fusion ignition with a simple estimation.