Research with high-power short-wavelength lasers

Three important high-temperature, high-density experiments were conducted recently using the 10-TW, short-wavelength Novette laser system at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. These experiments demonstrated successful solutions to problems that arose during previous experiments with long wavelength lasers (lambda greater than or equal to 1μm) in which inertial confinement fusion (ICF), x-ray laser, and other high-temperature physics concepts were being tested. The demonstrations were: (1) large-scale plasmas (typical dimensions of up to 1000 laser wavelengths) were produced in which potentially deleterious laser-plasma instabilities were collisionally damped. (2) Deuterium-tritium fuel was imploded to a density of 20 g/cm3 and a pressure of 1010 atm. (3) A 700-fold amplification of soft x rays by stimulated emission at 206 and 209 A (62 eV) from Se+24 ions was observed in a laser-generated plasma. Isoelectronic scaling to 155 A (87 eV) in Y+29 was also demonstrated