Laser-driven implosion experiments

A review of the experiments associated with laser-driven implosions is presented. These experiments include actual implosion experiments and experiments which simulate particular aspects of laser-driven implosions. Exploding pusher and isentropic implosion experiments are treated separately. Where possible a comparison of the data to analytic or computer simulation calculations is made. Exploding pusher analytic theory is shown to be qualitatively correct, and the analytic models of ablation are compared to experiment. Current isentropic experiments, however, appear to be dominated by hot electron effects. It is shown that most of the experiments which have been reported do not display a strong dependence on laser wavelength, and this result is predicted by theory. An analysis which is intended to display the effects of hot electron preheat does demonstrate a dependence of implosion data on wavelength. It is also shown that some topics, such as transport and implosion stability, require much more experimental and theoretical effort. The conclusion reached is that long wavelength lasers may require more than 10 MJ to ignite a target. (author)