Accomplishments of the 100-Gbar Campaign on OMEGA

Sean Regan

Laser Laboratory of Electronics

Friday, March 31, 2023

3:00pm

NW16-136 Hybrid

PSFC Seminars

Abstract: The 100-Gbar Campaign at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics investigated the following key aspects of laser-direct-drive inertial confinement fusion on the 60-beam, 30-kJ, 351-nm OMEGA Laser System:  laser power balance, fill-tube target research and development, diagnostic research and development, laser–plasma interactions (LPIs), laser imprint, laser upgrades for LPI mitigation, shock timing, 1-D implosion physics and optimization campaigns, implosion modeling and simulations, and 3-D reconstruction of the implosion. Research and development will be presented in the science and engineering of implosion physics of layered DT cryogenic targets and the supporting improvements to lasers, targets, and diagnostics that led to an increase of the stagnation pressure from 50 Gbar to 80 Gbar and a corresponding increase in the energy-scaled, generalized Lawson criterion from 0.56 to 0.8 (1.0 corresponds to ignition). The innovations spurred in machine-learning data analysis techniques based on statistical modeling, the development of laser and target solutions to mitigate implosion degradation mechanisms, the development of 3-D diagnostics to understand implosion symmetry and the flow velocity of the fusing hot-spot plasma, and the development of next-generation, broad-bandwidth lasers to mitigate LPI and laser imprint will be highlighted. 

This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration under Award Number DE-NA0003856. 

Bio: Sean P. Regan is the Director of the Experimental Division at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, and he has a secondary teaching appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Rochester. He conducts experiments and develops novel diagnostics for inertial confinement fusion and high-energy-density physics research fields on the Omega Laser Facility at the University of Rochester and the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). He received his Ph.D. in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in 1995. After completing a Post-Doctoral Fellowship with the Plasma Spectroscopy Group at JHU, he joined LLE in 1997 as a Scientist. He was promoted to Senior Scientist in 2005 and to Distinguished Scientist in 2020. From 2014 to 2021, he led the Omega Experiments Group within the Experimental Division. He is a member of the National Diagnostics Working Group. Sean fosters collaborations with researchers at LLNL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Oxford University, Imperial College, Queens University-Belfast, the University of Bordeaux, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Nevada-Reno, State University of New York-Geneseo, and the University of Michigan. He has given numerous invited talks and has over 270 co-authored publications. Sean is a Fellow in the American Physical Society and received the Leadership Award from the Fusion Power Associates Board of Directors. Recruiting and training graduate students to become the next generation of scientists and engineers are an integral part of his research.