ICF laser programme at CEL-V

The laser inertial confinement fusion programme developed at the Centre d'etudes de Limeil-Valenton relies on the indirect drive scheme, in which the laser radiation is converted into a soft X radiation that drives the implosion of a D-T filled capsule. Experiments are performed with the Nd glass laser facility Phebus, which delivers 5 kJ in 1.3 ns at λ = 0.35 μm. The objectives are to investigate the critical elements in target physics that determine ignition and gain. The experiments address primary topics such as irradiation symmetry and hydrodynamic instabilities as well as other subjects relevant to hohlraum physics: X ray conversion, radiative transfer and atomic physics in X ray driven plasmas. Theoretical work and numerical simulations have shown that fuel ignition conditions and moderate gain (approx. 10) would be obtained by the indirect drive approach with about 1-2 MJ of laser energy. (author). 9 refs, 5 figs