Energetics of multiple-ion species hohlraum plasmas

A study of the laser-plasma interaction processes has been performed in multiple-ion species hohlraum plasmas at conditions similar to those expected in indirect drive inertial confinement fusion targets. Gas-filled hohlraums with electron densities of 5.5x10²⁰ and 9x10²⁰ cm^-3 are heated by 14.3 kJ of laser energy (wavelength 351 nm) to electron temperatures of 3 keV and backscattered laser light is measured. Landau damping of the ion acoustic waves is increased by adding hydrogen to a CO₂ or CF₄ gas. Stimulated Brillouin backscattering of a 351 nm probe beam is found to decrease monotonically with increasing Landau damping, accompanied by a comparable increase in the transmission. More efficient energy coupling into the hohlraum by suppression of backscatter from the heater beams results in an increased hohlraum radiation temperature, showing that multiple-ion species plasmas improve the overall hohlraum energetics. The reduction in backscatter is reproduced by linear gain calculations as well as detailed full-scale three-dimensional laser-plasma interaction simulations, demonstrating that Landau damping is the controlling damping mechanism in inertial confinement fusion relevant high-electron temperature plasmas. These findings have led to the inclusion of multiple-ion species plasmas in the hohlraum point design for upcoming ignition campaigns at the National Ignition Facility