The laser-direct-drive inertial confinement fusion (LDD-ICF) concept is used to implode cryogenically layered deuterium–tritium targets on the 60-beam, 30-kJ, 351-nm Omega laser. For the first time in LDD-ICF, experiments have demonstrated implosion qualities consistent with a burning plasma when hydrodynamically extrapolated to the energy available at the National Ignition Facility. The goal is the demonstration of ignition conditions, when scaled to 2 MJ of laser energy. This talk presents an overview of the LDD-ICF target diagnostics on Omega that were critical in achieving the progress in LDD-ICF. It includes optical diagnostics for laser beams and for target characterization to understand better the initial conditions of the implosion and 3-D diagnostics for x rays, neutrons, and particles to study multidimensional effects on the hot-spot formation and the cold-fuel asymmetries. Nuclear diagnostics are key for the stagnation phase providing important information such as neutron yield, flow velocity of the hot spot, areal density, and the apparent ion temperature asymmetry from a 3-D nTOF suite. Charged particle diagnostics such as the recently developed knock-on deuteron imager provide information on the fuel distribution in the hot spot and the dense surrounding fuel shell at stagnation. A 3-D suite of time-resolved x-ray hot spot imagers is being developed to study the hot-spot morphology and its dynamics, with the goal to feedback on improving the low-mode drive asymmetry.
Paul Neumayer