Assessing the prospects for achieving double-shell ignition on the National Ignition Facility using vacuum hohlraums

The goal of demonstrating ignition on the National Ignition Facility [J. D. Lindl , Phys. Plasmas 11, 339 (2003)] has motivated a revisit of double-shell (DS) targets as a complementary path to the cryogenic baseline approach. Expected benefits of DS ignition targets include noncryogenic deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel preparation, minimal hohlraum-plasma-mediated laser backscatter, low threshold-ignition temperatures (approximate to 4 keV) for relaxed hohlraum x-ray flux asymmetry tolerances, and minimal (two-) shock timing requirements. On the other hand, DS ignition presents several formidable challenges, encompassing room-temperature containment of high-pressure DT (approximate to 790 atm) in the inner shell, strict concentricity requirements on the two shells (< 3 mu m), development of nanoporous (< 100 nm cell size) low-density (< 100 mg/cc) metallic foams for structural support of the inner shell and hydrodynamic instability mitigation, and effective control of hydrodynamic instabilities on the high-Atwood-number interface between the DT fuel and the high-Z inner shell. Recent progress in DS ignition designs and required materials science advances at the nanoscale are described herein. Two new ignition designs that use rugby-shaped vacuum hohlraums are presented that utilize either 1 or 2 MJ of laser energy at 3 omega. The capability of the National Ignition Facility to generate the requested 2 MJ reverse-ramp pulse shape for DS ignition is expected to be comparable to the planned high-contrast (approximate to 100) pulse shape at 1.8 MJ for the baseline cryogenic target. Nanocrystalline, high-strength, Au-Cu alloy inner shells are under development using electrochemical deposition over a glass mandrel, exhibiting tensile strengths well in excess of 790 atm. Novel, low-density (85 mg/cc) copper foams have recently been demonstrated using 10 mg/cc SiO2 nanoporous aerogels with suspended Cu particles. A prototype demonstration of an ignition DS is planned for 2008, incorporating the needed novel nanomaterials science developments and the required fabrication tolerances for a realistic ignition attempt after 2010. (C) 2007 American Institute of Physics.