Effects of fuel-shell mix upon direct-drive,spherical implosions on OMEGA

Fuel-shell mix and implosion performance are studied for many capsule types in direct-drive experiments at OMEGA. The amount of mixing and the size of the mix region are inferred from charged-particle spectrometry data and confirmed with an experimentally constrained model. Measured yields and convergence ratios CR fall short of one-dimensional predictions, especially for low capsule fill pressures. CR is approximately 11 for pressures from 3 to 15 atm, in contrast to predictions of approximately 25 for 3 atm and approximately 12 for 15 atm. The performance shortfalls are likely to be caused by fuel-shell mix.     

Studies of plastic-ablator compressibility for direct-drive inertial confinement fusion on OMEGA

The compression of planar plastic targets was studied with x-ray radiography in the range of laser intensities of I approximately 0.5 to 1.5x10(15) W/cm2 using square (low-compression) and shaped (high-compression) pulses. Two-dimensional simulations with the radiative hydrocode DRACO show good agreement with measurements at laser intensities up to I approximately 10(15) W/cm2. These results provide the first experimental evidence for low-entropy, adiabatic compression of plastic shells in the laser intensity regime relevant to direct-drive inertial confinement fusion. A density reduction near the end of the drive at a high intensity of I approximately 1.5x10(15) W/cm2 has been correlated with the hard x-ray signal caused by hot electrons from two-plasmon-decay instability.     

First polar direct-drive exploding-pusher target experiments on the ShenGuang laser facility

Low density and low convergence implosion occurs in the exploding-pusher target experiment, and generates neutrons isotropically to develop a high yield platform.In order to validate the performance of ShenGuang(SG) laser facility and test nuclear diagnostics, all 48-beam lasers with an on-target energy of 48 kJ were firstly used to drive room-temperature, DT gas-filled glass targets.The optimization has been carried out and optimal drive uniformity was obtained by the combination of beam repointing and target.The final irradiation uniformity of less than 5% on polar direct-drive capsules of 540 μm in diameter was achieved, and the highest thermonuclear yield of the polar direct-drive DT fuel implosion at the SG was 1.04 × 10~(13).The experiment results show neutron yields severely depend on the irradiation uniformity and laser timing,and decrease with the increase of the diameter and fuel pressure of the target.The thin CH ablator does not impact the implosion performance, but the laser drive uniformity is important.The simulated results validate that the cos γ distribution laser design is reasonable and can achieve a symmetric pressure distribution.Further optimization will focus on measuring the symmetry of the hot spot by self-emission imaging, increasing the diameter, and decreasing the fuel pressure.     

Analysis of direct-drive capsule compression experiments on the Iskra-5 laser facility

We have analyzed and numerically simulated our experiments on the compression of DT-gas-filled glass capsules under irradiation by a small number of beams on the Iskra-5 facility (12 beams) at the second harmonic of an iodine laser (λ = 0.66 μm) for a laser pulse energy of 2 kJ and duration of 0.5 ns in the case of asymmetric irradiation and compression. Our simulations include the construction of a target illumination map and a histogram of the target surface illumination distribution; 1D capsule compression simulations based on the DIANA code corresponding to various target surface regions; and 2D compression simulations based on the NUTCY code corresponding to the illumination conditions. We have succeeded in reproducing the shape of the compressed region at the time of maximum compression and the reduction in neutron yield (compared to the 1D simulations) to the experimentally observed values. For the Iskra-5 conditions, we have considered targets that can provide a more symmetric compression and a higher neutron yield.     

Influence of the laser prepulse on proton acceleration in thin-foil experiments

We investigate the influence of the laser prepulse due to amplified spontaneous emission on the acceleration of protons in thin-foil experiments. We show that changing the prepulse duration has a profound effect on the maximum proton energy. We find an optimal value for the target thickness, which strongly depends on the prepulse duration. At this optimal thickness, the rear side acceleration process leads to the highest proton energies, while this mechanism is rendered ineffective for thinner targets due to a prepulse-induced plasma formation at the rear side. In this case, the protons are primarily accelerated by the front side mechanism leading to lower cutoff energies.     

3D large-scale SPH modeling of vehicle wading with GPU acceleration

Vehicle wading is a complex fluid-structure interaction(FSI) problem and has attracted great attention recently from the automotive industry, especially for electric vehicles. As a meshless Lagrangian particle method, smoothed particle hydrodynamics(SPH) is one of the most suitable candidates for simulations of vehicle wading due to its inherent advantages in modeling free surface flows, splash, and moving interfaces. Nevertheless, the inevitable neighbor query for the nearest adjacent particles...     

New organic FET-like photoactive device, experiments and DFT modeling

We present the possible construction of an organic FET-like photoactive device in which source-drain current through a phthalocyanine ( H₂Pc film is affected by a photo-induced dipolar field in a photoactive “gate” electrode. The influence of the dipolar electric field on charge transfer between H₂Pc molecules is modeled by DFT quantum-chemical calculations on H₂Pc dimers and tetramers.     

Production of hollow cylindrical plasmas for laser guiding in acceleration experiments

One of the major tasks for the progress of laser acceleration of electrons in plasmas is the guiding of focused pulses along path lengths much larger than the depth of focus. We have tested experimentally the production of hollow plasmas in gas to be used as guiding medium. We induced optical breakdown in Helium with a nanosecond laser pulse similar to the Amplified Spontaneous Emission (ASE) pedestal of a powerful ultrashort laser pulse. The plasma produced in this way was carefully characterized by high resolution interferometry. Plasma channels several millimeters in length whose density, depth and width match the requirements for an efficient guiding have been obtained. Channels with a variety of parameters can be created according to the well-known dynamics of the plasmas produced by optical breakdown. PACS 42.82.Et; 52.50.Jm; 41.75.Jv     

利用CR39上的径迹鉴别激光加速离子产物

分别利用单能的质子束及碳离子束辐照CR39,并制定了规范的刻蚀条件及流程。通过对处理完成后的数据进行详细处理,得到了质子及碳离子的径迹直径-能量的响应曲线,可用于确定CR39上质子或碳离子的能量。以此为依据,得到了鉴别CR39上质子及碳离子的有效方法。在激光加速离子的实验中,通过测量CR39上的径迹大小及相对灰度,利用本文给出的标定数据,确认了质子径迹,得到了实验的质子能谱。     

利用CR39上的径迹鉴别激光加速离子产物

分别利用单能的质子束及碳离子束辐照CR39,并制定了规范的刻蚀条件及流程。通过对处理完成后的数据进行详细处理,得到了质子及碳离子的径迹直径-能量的响应曲线,可用于确定CR39上质子或碳离子的能量。以此为依据,得到了鉴别CR39上质子及碳离子的有效方法。在激光加速离子的实验中,通过测量CR39上的径迹大小及相对灰度,利用本文给出的标定数据,确认了质子径迹,得到了实验的质子能谱。     

Investigation of Al-Cu-Ni alloy solidification: thermodynamics,experiments and phase-field modeling

The investigation of solidification in ternary Al-Cu-Ni alloys is carried out by means of experiments and phase-field modeling. For three alloys in the Al-rich corner of the phase diagram differential thermal analysis (DTA) is performed. Then the alloys were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis. For the understanding of the general features of the alloy solidification quantitative phase-field simulations are carried out additionally to the theoretical Scheil calculation. It is found that many experimental DTA signals and the microstructure parts cannot be explained by simple Scheil calculation. We apply the multi-phase-field model previously developed for the simulation of peritectic reaction and extended it to three components and four-phases reactions. The main advantage of this model is the application of the equilibrium parameters evaluated from the refined free energies of the phases. It is shown that the simulated microstructure is comparable to the experimental one for two investigated alloys. The final phase fractions in the modeling correspond to the theoretical predictions of Scheil calculation but the time evolution of fractions is more complicated. In particular the kinetics (relation between tangential and normal growth velocities) of the peritectic-like reaction in ternary Al-Cu-Ni alloys shows differences compared to the peritectic reaction in binary Al-Ni alloys.     

Bulk ablation of soft tissue with intense ultrasound: modeling and experiments

Methods for the bulk ablation of soft tissue using intense ultrasound, with potential applications in the thermal treatment of focal tumors, are presented. An approximate analytic model for bulk ablation predicts the progress of ablation based on tissue properties, spatially averaged ultrasonic heat deposition, and perfusion. The approximate model allows the prediction of threshold acoustic powers required for ablation in vivo as well as the comparison of cases with different starting temperatures and perfusion characteristics, such as typical in vivo and ex vivo experiments. In a full three-dimensional numerical model, heat deposition from array transducers is computed using the Fresnel approximation and heat transfer in tissue is computed by finite differences, accounting for heating changes caused by boiling and thermal dose-dependent absorption. Similar ablation trends due to perfusion effects are predicted by both the simple analytic model and the full numerical model. Comparisons with experimental results show the efficacy of both models in predicting tissue ablation effects. Phenomena illustrated by the simulations and experiments include power thresholds for in vivo ablation, differences between in vivo and ex vivo lesioning for comparable source conditions, the effect of tissue boiling and absorption changes on ablation depth, and the performance of a continuous rotational scanning method suitable for interstitial bulk ablation of soft tissue.     

Noise control in enclosures: modeling and experiments with T-shaped acoustic resonators

This paper presents a theoretical and experimental study of noise control in enclosures using a T-shaped acoustic resonator array. A general model with multiple resonators is developed to predict the acoustic performance of small resonators placed in an acoustic enclosure. Analytical solutions for the sound pressure inside the enclosure and the volume velocity source strength out of the resonator aperture are derived when a single resonator is installed, which provides insight into the physics of acoustic interaction between the enclosure and the resonator. Based on the understanding of the coupling between the individual resonators and enclosure modes, both targeted and nontargeted, a sequential design methodology is proposed for noise control in the enclosure using an array of acoustic resonators. Design examples are given to illustrate the control performance at a specific or at several resonance peaks within a frequency band of interest. Experiments are conducted to systematically validate the theory and the design method. The agreement between the theoretical and experimental results shows that, with the help of the presented theory and design methodology, either single or multiple resonance peaks of the enclosure can be successfully controlled using an optimally located acoustic resonator array.     

Diffusion filling with fuel gas of high-gain direct-drive cryogenic targets

To provide continuous operation of a reactor based on inertial confinement fusion (ICF), the thermonuclear burn region should be refilled with fuel with a frequency of 1 million targets per day. The first stage in the target production is diffusion filling of polymeric (CH) shells with fuel gas which is deuterium (D₂) or deuterium–tritium (DT) mixture. The results of simulation of filling reactor-scale CH-shells (Ø ~ 4 mm) to a pressure of ~1100 atm at 300 K in the mode with a constant pressure gradient are presented. Simple and two-layer shells of compact and porous polymers are considered. The problems of constructing an optimum DT-filling scheme avoiding CH-shell fracture due to tritium beta decay are discussed.     

Comparison of biomechanical modeling of register transitions and voice instabilities with excised larynx experiments

Voice instabilities were studied using excised human larynx experiments and biomechanical modeling. With a controlled elongation of the vocal folds, the experiments showed registers with chest-like and falsetto-like vibrations. Observed instabilities included abrupt jumps between the two registers exhibiting hysteresis, aphonic episodes, subharmonics, and chaos near the register transitions. In order to model these phenomena, a three-mass model was constructed by adding a third mass on top of the simplified two-mass model. Simulation studies showed that the three-mass model can vibrate in both chest-like and falsetto-like patterns. Variation of tension parameters which mimic activities of laryngeal muscles could induce transitions between both registers. For reduced prephonatory areas and damping constants, extended coexistence of chest and falsetto registers was found, in agreement with experimental data. Subharmonics and deterministic chaos were observed close to transitions between the registers. It is concluded that the abrupt changes between chest and falsetto registers can be understood as shifts in dominance of eigenmodes of the vocal folds.     

Numerical modeling of laser shock peening with femtosecond laser pulses and comparisons to experiments

A physics-based model has been developed for laser shock peening (LSP) with femtosecond (fs) laser pulses (fs-LSP), which has never been reported in literature to the authors’ best knowledge. The model is tested by comparing simulations with measured plume/shock wave front transient propagations and the LSP-induced hardness enhancement layer thickness. Reasonably good agreements have been obtained. The model shows that fs-LSP can produce much higher pressure than LSP with nanosecond (ns) laser pulses (ns-LSP), and it can also generate very large compressive residual stress in the workpiece near-surface layer with a thickness up to ∼100 μm. The developed model provides a powerful guiding tool for the fundamental study and the practical applications of fs-LSP. This study, together with the recently reported work by Nakano et al. [Journal of Laser Micro/Nanoengineering 4(1) (2009) 35-38], has confirmed the feasibility of fs-LSP on both theoretical and experimental sides.     

Computer modeling of the acceleration of low-charge krypton ions in the CYTRACK cyclotron

The basic results of numeric simulations of krypton ion motion with decreased charge in the CYTRACK cyclotron are presented. CYTRACK is the world??s first industrial cyclotron dedicated to the production of track membranes. Computer modeling confirms the possibility of Kr ₈₄ ⁺¹¹ ion acceleration in the magnetic field with an increase in the level of the magnetic field by 1.6% on the 6 harmonic of the accelerating system. The beam energy will be sufficient for the exposure of a film with a thickness of 10 ??m.