Indirectly Driven, High Convergence Inertial Confinement Fusion Implosions

A series of high convergence, indirectly driven implosions has been done with the Nova Laser Fusion facility. These implosions were well characterized by a variety of measurements; computer models are in good agreement. The imploded fuel areal density was measured using a technique based on secondary neutron spectroscopy. At capsule convergences of 24:1, comparable to what is required for the hot spot of ignition scale capsules, these capsules achieved fuel densities of 19 g/cm³. Independent measurements of density, burn duration, and ion temperature gave nτθ=1.7±0.9×10¹⁴keV scm³.