\textbf{Mass and charge dependence of ion shock coupling and thermal equilibration in ICF shock phase}
ORAL
Abstract
During the shock-convergence phase of ICF implosions there are steep spatial gradients and the ion mean free path becomes long compared to the system size, indicating that multi-ion and kinetic effects may be important. It has been previously indicated that there is substantial thermal decoupling and possibly other kinetic effects in D$^{\mathrm{3}}$He plasmas with conditions relevant to the NIF shock-phase. In this presentation I will show recent work conducted on the Omega laser facility recreating these conditions in DT plasmas. Results indicate a system that is better captured by average-ion hydrodynamic simulations than the D$^{\mathrm{3}}$He case. We are working to understand this behavior. Combined DT and D3He burn averaged observables are consistent with an equilibrating two-temperature model. This has major implications for our understanding of kinetic and multi-ion plasma physics and our modeling of ICF implosions. This work was supported in part by the U.S. DOE, NLUF and LLE.
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