Progress towards ignition on the National Ignition Facility
Authors: Edwards M. J. , Patel P. K. , Lindl J. D. , Atherton L. J. , Glenzer S. H. , Haan S. W. , Kilkenny J. D. , Landen O. L. , Moses E. I. , Nikroo A. , Petrasso R. , Sangster T. C. , Springer P. T. , Batha S. , Benedetti R. , Bernstein L. , Betti R. , Bleuel D. L. , Boehly T. R. , Bradley D. K. , Caggiano J. A. , Callahan D. A. , Celliers P. M. , Cerjan C. J. , Chen K. C. , Clark D. S. , Collins G. W. , Dewald E. L. , Divol L. , Dixit S. , Doeppner T. , Edgell D. H. , Fair J. E. , Farrell M. , Fortner R. J. , Frenje J. , Gatu Johnson M. G. , Giraldez E. , Glebov V. Yu. , Grim G. , Hammel B. A. , Hamza A. V. , Harding D. R. , Hatchett S. P. , Hein N. , Herrmann H. W. , Hicks D. , Hinkel D. E. , Hoppe M. , Hsing W. W. , Izumi N. , Jacoby B. , Jones O. S. , Kalantar D. , Kauffman R. , Kline J. L. , Knauer J. P. , Koch J. A. , Kozioziemski B. J. , Kyrala G. , LaFortune K. N. , Pape S. Le , Leeper R. J. , Lerche R. , Ma T. , MacGowan B. J. , MacKinnon A. J. , Macphee A. , Mapoles E. R. , Marinak M. M. , Mauldin M. , McKenty P. W. , Meezan M. , Michel P. A. , Milovich J. , Moody J. D. , Moran M. , Munro D. H. , Olson C. L. , Opachich K. , Pak A. E. , Parham T. , Park H.-S. , Ralph J. E. , Regan S. P. , Remington B. , Rinderknecht H. , Robey H. F. , Rosen M. , Ross S. , Salmonson J. D. , Sater J. , Schneider D. H. , Séguin F. H. , Sepke S. M. , Shaughnessy D. A. , Smalyuk V. A. , Spears B. K. , Stoeckl C. , Stoeffl W. , Suter L. , Thomas C. A. , Tommasini R. , Town R. P. , Weber S. V. , Wegner P. J. , Widman K. , Wilke M. , Wilson D. C. , Yeamans C. B. , Zylstra A. 
Published: July 2013

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory includes a precision laser system now capable of delivering 1.8 MJ at 500 TW of 0.35-μm light to a target. NIF has been operational since March 2009. A variety of experiments have been completed in support of NIF's mission areas: national security, fundamental science, and inertial fusion energy. NIF capabilities and infrastructure are in place to support its missions with nearly 60 X-ray, optical, and nuclear diagnostic systems. A primary goal of the National Ignition Campaign (NIC) on the NIF was to implode a low-Z capsule filled with ∼0.2 mg of deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel via laser indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion and demonstrate fusion ignition and propagating thermonuclear burn with a net energy gain of ∼5–10 (fusion yield/input laser energy). This requires assembling the DT fuel into a dense shell of ∼1000 g/cm3 with an areal density (ρR) of ∼1.5 g/cm2, surrounding a lower density hot spot with a temperature of ∼10 keV and a ρR ∼0.3 g/cm2, or approximately an α-particle range. Achieving these conditions demand precise control of laser and target parameters to allow a low adiabat, high convergence implosion with low ablator fuel mix. We have demonstrated implosion and compressed fuel conditions at ∼80–90% for most point design values independently, but not at the same time. The nuclear yield is a factor of ∼3–10× below the simulated values and a similar factor below the alpha dominated regime. This paper will discuss the experimental trends, the possible causes of the degraded performance (the off-set from the simulations), and the plan to understand and resolve the underlying physics issues.