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Notes: Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) has been reexamined in the strong coupling limit. The three-wave interaction in the strong coupling regime, which gives rise to a purely growing mode for wave numbers k(approximately-greater-than)2k0, where k0 is the wave vector of the pump wave, has been studied. This regime was first found by Cohen and Max [Phys. Fluids 22, 1121 (1979)]. In this regime, for a flowing plasma, a significant portion of the unstable spectrum is found to be blueshifted even for the Mach number equal to unity. For the inhomogeneous case, the convective gain in the strong coupling limit turns out to be identical to the gain in the SBS in the weak coupling limit regime. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Nike is a 56 beam Krypton Fluoride (KrF) laser system using Induced Spatial Incoherence (ISI) beam smoothing with a measured focal nonuniformity 〈ΔI/I〉 of 1% rms in a single beam [S. Obenschain et al., Phys. Plasmas 3, 1996 (2098)]. When 37 of these beams are overlapped on the target, we estimate that the beam nonuniformity is reduced by 37, to (ΔI/I)≅0.15% (excluding short-wavelength beam-to-beam interference). The extraordinary uniformity of the laser drive, along with a newly developed x-ray framing diagnostic, has provided a unique facility for the accurate measurements of Rayleigh–Taylor amplified laser-imprinted mass perturbations under conditions relevant to direct-drive laser fusion. Data from targets with smooth surfaces as well as those with impressed sine wave perturbations agree with our two-dimensional (2-D) radiation hydrodynamics code that includes the time-dependent ISI beam modulations. A 2-D simulation of a target with a 100 Å rms randomly rough surface finish driven by a completely uniform beam gives final perturbation amplitudes similar to the experimental data for the smoothest laser profile. These results are promising for direct-drive laser fusion.

Notes: Krypton-fluoride (KrF) lasers are of interest to laser fusion because they have both the large bandwidth capability ((approximately-greater-than)THz) desired for rapid beam smoothing and the short laser wavelength (1/4 μm) needed for good laser–target coupling. Nike is a recently completed 56-beam KrF laser and target facility at the Naval Research Laboratory. Because of its bandwidth of 1 THz FWHM (full width at half-maximum), Nike produces more uniform focal distributions than any other high-energy ultraviolet laser. Nike was designed to study the hydrodynamic instability of ablatively accelerated planar targets. First results show that Nike has spatially uniform ablation pressures (Δp/p〈2%). Targets have been accelerated for distances sufficient to study hydrodynamic instability while maintaining good planarity. In this review we present the performance of the Nike laser in producing uniform illumination, and its performance in correspondingly uniform acceleration of targets. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: We present analytic theory and numerical simulations comparing the optical beam smoothing capabilities of the smoothing by spectral dispersion (SSD) technique using random temporal phase modulation, with that of the induced spatial incoherence technique. The analytic theory provides a simple formula for the SSD mode spectrum in the usual case where the phase mask at the focusing lens is random, and its asymptotic limit quantitatively relates the long wavelength mode smoothing to the width of the angular dispersion. With parameters and phase aberration relevant to the National Ignition Facility beams, the SSD simulations show that the large long wavelength components, which are also found in earlier simulations, can be significantly reduced by replacing the independent random phase masks in each pair of adjacent beams by a conjugate pair of zero-correlation masks. These simulations suggest that one can combine zero-correlation masks with random temporal phase modulation and multiple color cycles to achieve SSD smoothing approaching the optical bandwidth limit at all spatial frequencies, without using large angular dispersions. © 2000 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: This paper describes theoretical and experimental investigations of induced spatial incoherence (ISI), a technique for achieving the smooth and controllable target beam profiles required for direct-drive laser fusion. In conventional ISI, a broadband laser beam (coherence time tc=1/Δν(very-much-less-than)tpulse) is sliced into an array of mutually incoherent beamlets by echelon structures that impose successive time delay increments Δt〉tc. A focusing lens then overlaps those beamlets onto the target, which is usually located at the far field. Here, we evaluate the ideal target beam profiles for practical ISI focusing configurations, and examine the perturbing effects of transient interference, laser aberration, and plasma filamentation. Analytic and numerical calculations show that nonuniformities due to interference among the beamlets are smoothed by both thermal diffusion and temporal averaging. Under laser-plasma conditions of interest to inertial confinement fusion (ICF), average ablation pressure nonuniformities ∼1% should be readily attainable. We also investigate a partial ISI scheme, which allows widely spaced beamlets to remain mutually coherent; the resulting high spatial frequency interference structure can be effectively smoothed by thermal diffusion alone. A perturbation analysis shows that the average target profile 〈I(x)〉 remains relatively insensitive to laser beam aberration when the scale length of that aberration is larger than the initial beamlet width. This aberration will tend to broaden and smooth 〈I(x)〉, rather than introduce any small-scale structure. The broadening is largely controllable because it depends only upon spatial averagesof the aberrated quantities over the entire laser aperture; the uncontrollable perturbations can be reduced to ∼1% in practical cases. Filamentation in the underdense plasma has been studied numerically using a 2D propagation/hydro code selfoct, which includes both ponderomotive and thermal effects. For 0.25-μm light, this code predicts that ISI should suppress filamentation in plasmas of interest to ICF. We review recent planar target experiments carried out at the Naval Research Laboratory using 1.054- and 0.527-μm light, which show that the combination of ISI and shorter wavelength substantially reduces all evidence of plasma instabilities. Finally, we review a promising alternative technique for achieving ISI in KrF lasers without using echelons.

Notes: The effect of bandwidth on the convective amplification of the Raman instability in the underdense, inhomogeneous plasma is investigated. For the case when the homogeneous growth rate γ0(very-much-less-than)Δω, where Δω is the bandwidth, it is shown both analytically and numerically that there is no effect of bandwidth on the convective amplification. The reduction in the homogeneous growth rate due to the bandwidth is compensated for by an increase in the interaction region such that the convective amplification is unaffected. For γ0(approximately-greater-than)Δω there is a statistical enhancement in the amplification factor.

Notes: The effect of the induced spatial incoherence method of laser beam smoothing on the convective Raman instability in an underdense inhomogeneous plasma has been studied. It is found that only for bandwidths comparable to, or greater than, the time-averaged homogeneous growth rate, is there significant smoothing effect resulting in a reduction of the backscattered radiation. However, for narrow bandwidths the backscattered radiation computed in the presence of hot spots created by the echelons, turns out to be significantly less than the levels observed in the Naval Research Laboratory experiments. We argue that a combination of three-dimensional effects and filamentation may account for the observed level of enhanced scattering.

Notes: Short-pulse (300 psec), high-intensity (1014−1015 W/cm2) Nd-laser light was propagated into variable scale length plasmas (Ln≡n/∇n=200–400 μm at 0.1 critical density) preformed by long-pulse (4 nsec), low-intensity ((approximately-equal-to)6×1012 W/cm2) irradiation of planar targets. For high short-pulse intensities (≥5×1014 W/cm2), time-integrated images show filament-shaped regions of second-harmonic (2ω0) emission from the low density (0.01≤ne/nc≤0.2) region of the ablation plasma. Two-dimensional computer calculations of the hyrodynamics and laser beam propagation indicate that these filaments are consistent with ponderomotive self-focusing of the short pulse. A theoretical model that explains the 2ω0 generation mechanism within low-density filaments is also presented.

Notes: One of the critical elements for high-gain target designs is the high degree of symmetry that must be maintained in the implosion process. The induced spatial incoherence (ISI) concept has some promise for reducing ablation pressure nonuniformities to ≈1%. The ISI method produces a spatial irradiance profile that undergoes large random fluctuations on picosecond time scales but is smooth on long time scales. The ability of the ISI method to produce a nearly uniform ablation pressure is contingent on both temporal smoothing and thermal diffusion. In the start-up phase of a shaped reactorlike laser pulse, the target is directly illuminated by the laser light and thermal diffusion is not effective at smoothing residual nonuniformities in the laser beam. During this period in the laser pulse, the target response is dominated by the initial shock generated by the laser pulse and the results indicate that this first shock can be the determining factor in the success or failure of the implosion process. The results of numerical simulations of several target/laser pulse designs which were investigated in an attempt to mitigate the impact of the initial shock structure stemming from the early temporal phase of an ISI-smoothed laser beam are presented. It is shown that "foamlike'' layers, multiple laser wavelengths, and shallow angles of incidence can sharply reduce the perturbation level stemming from the first shock.

Notes: A numerical and analytical study of the Raman instability in a homogeneous plasma is presented in which the pump has been modeled to include the effects of broad bandwidth and the induced spatial incoherence (ISI) method of beam smoothing. For a time-averaged homogeneous growth rate γ¯0 and a bandwidth σ, there is a significant reduction in Raman backscattering when σ(approximately-greater-than)2γ0, for γ¯20 near threshold intensity. However, for γ¯20 very large compared to the threshold, neither ISI nor bandwidth affects Raman scattering.