Results from MARBLE DT Experiments on the National Ignition Facility: Implosion of Foam-Filled Capsules for Studying Thermonuclear Burn in the Presence of Heterogeneous Mix

ORAL

Abstract

The MARBLE\footnote{T. J. Murphy {\it et al} J Phys:Conf Series {\bf 717}, 012072 (2016).} campaign on NIF investigates the effect of heterogeneous mix on thermonuclear burn for comparison to a probability distribution function (PDF) burn model.\footnote{J. R. Fincke, unpublished; J. R. Ristorcelli, Phys. Fluids 29, 020705 (2017).} MARBLE utilizes plastic capsules filled with deuterated plastic foam and tritium gas. The ratio of DT to DD neutron yield is indicative of the degree to which the foam and the gas atomically mix. Platform development experiments have been performed to understand the behavior of the foam and of the gas separately using two types of capsule. The first experiments using deuterated foam and tritium gas have been performed. Results of these experiments, and the implications for our understanding of thermonuclear burn in heterogeneously mixed separated reactant experiments will be discussed.

*This work is supported by US DOE/NNSA, performed at LANL, operated by LANS LLC under contract DE-AC52-06NA25396.

Authors

  • T J Murphy

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • M R Douglas

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • Tana Cardenas

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • LANL
    • Los Alamos Natl Lab
  • J H Cooley

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • M A Gunderson

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • Brian Haines

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • LANL
  • C E Hamilton

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • YH Kim

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • M N Lee

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • J A Oertel

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • Richard Olson

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • LANL
  • R B Randolph

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • Rahul Shah

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory
    • Los Alamos National Lab
  • J M Smidt

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory