Observation of Hydrodynamic Flows in Imploding Fusion Plasmas on the National Ignition Facility

Abstract

Inertial confinement fusion implosions designed to have minimal fluid motion at peak compression often show significant linear flows in the laboratory, attributable per simulations to percent-level imbalances in the laser drive illumination symmetry. We present experimental results which intentionally varied the Mode 1 drive imbalance by up to 4% to test hydrodynamic predictions of flows and the resultant imploded core asymmetries and performance, as measured by a combination of DT neutron spectroscopy and high-resolution x-ray core imaging. Neutron yields decrease by up to 50% and anisotropic neutron Doppler broadening increases by 20%, in agreement with simulations. Furthermore, a tracer jet from the capsule fill tube perturbation that is entrained by the hot spot flow confirms the average flow speeds deduced from neutron spectroscopy.