Development of deuterated polystyrene target for laser fusion by means of density-matched emulsion method

In a laser fusion experiment, plastic shells are used to study both implosion dynamic of a hollow fuel layer and physics in a highly compressed plasma. A high quality, deuterated polystyrene shell was fabricated using a density-matched emulsion method. The diameter and well thickness of these shells ranged in 100 to 1500 μm and 4 to 15 μm, respectively. The sphericity, uniformity, and surface smoothness were 99.8%, 99.3%, and less than 0.1 μm. (author)