The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a project whose primary mission is to provide an above-ground experimental capability for maintaining nuclear competence and weapons effects simulation, and to pursue the achievement of fusion ignition utilizing solid state lasers as the energy driver. In this facility a large number of laser beams are focused onto a small target located at the center of a spherical target chamber. The laser energy is delivered in a few billionths of a second, raising the temperature and density of the nuclear materials in the target to levels where significant thermonuclear energy is released. The thermonuclear reaction proceeds very rapidly, so that the target materials remain confined by their own inertia during the thermonuclear reaction. This type of approach is called inertial confinement fusion (ICF). The proposed project is described in a conceptual design report (CDR) that was released in May 1994. Early in FY95, a collaboration between the University of Rochester and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was established to study reconfiguring the NIF to accommodate direct-drive experiments. The present paper is a report to the scientific community, primarily the scientists and engineers working on the design of the NIF. It represents results from work in progress, specifically work completed by the end of the second quarter FY95. This report has two main sections. The first describes the target requirements on the laser drive, and the second part describes how the NIF laser can be configured to accommodate both indirect and direct drive. The report includes a description of the scientific basis for these conclusions. Though a complete picture does not exist, the present understanding is sufficient to conclude that the primary target requirements and laser functional requirements for indirect and direct drive are quite compatible. It is evidently straightforward to reconfigure the NIF to accommodate direct and indirect drive.

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a proposed 1.8 MJ laser facility for carrying out experiments in inertial confinement fusion, currently designed for indirect drive experiments. The direct drive approach is being pursued at the 30 kJ Omega facility at the University of Rochester. In this paper we discuss the modifications to the NIF laser that would be required for both indirect and direct drive experiments. A primary concern is the additional cost of adding direct drive capability to the facility.

To support direct-drive inertial confinement fusion experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [G.H. Miller, E.I. Moses, and C.R. Wuest, Opt. Eng. 43, 2841 (2004)] in its indirect-drive beam configuration, the polar-direct-drive (PDD) concept [S. Skupsky et al., Phys. Plasmas 11, 2763 (2004)] has been proposed. Ignition in PDD geometry requires direct-drive-specific beam smoothing, phase plates, and repointing the NIF beams toward the equator to ensure symmetric target irradiation. First experiments to study the energetics and preheat in PDD implosions at the NIF have been performed. These experiments utilize the NIF in its current configuration, including beam geometry, phase plates, and beam smoothing. Room-temperature, 2.2-mm-diam plastic shells filled with D2 gas were imploded with total drive energies ranging from ~500 to 750 kJ with peak powers of 120 to 180 TW and peak on-target irradiances at the initial target radius from 8 1014 to 1.2 1015W/cm2. Results from these initial experiments are presented, including measurements of shell trajectory, implosion symmetry, and the level of hot-electron preheat in plastic and Si ablators. Experiments are simulated with the 2-D hydrodynamics code DRACO including a full 3-D ray-trace to model oblique beams, and models for nonlocal electron transport and cross-beam energy transport (CBET). These simulations indicate that CBET affects the shell symmetry and leads to a loss of energy imparted onto the shell, consistent with the experimental data.

NIF will be configured in its baseline design to achieve ignition and gain using the indirect drive approach. However, the requirements require the design to not preclude the conduct of inertial confinement fusion experiments using direct drive. This involves symmetrical illumination of an ICF capsule, where each beam fully subtends the capsule. The re-directing of 24 of the 48 NIF beamlines (2x2 beamlet group each) from 30 and 50[degree] cone angles to 75[degree] cone angles near the chamber'equator' is required. This would be done by adjusting intermediate transport mirrors so that the beams intercept different final mirrors in the Target Bay and be directed into final optics assemblies attached to chamber ports positioned at the new port locations. Space for converting from one irradiation scheme to another is a problem; also NIF user needs cannot be compromised by direct drive needs. Target for direct drive, absent a hohlraum, emits much fewer cold x rays than for indirect drive. Further, the irradiation scheme may not result in the absorption of all the 3[omega] light and this may create a hazard to the NIF chamber first wall. This paper describes possible design features of the NIF Target Area to allow conversion to direct drive and discusses some differences in post-shot conditions created compared to indirect drive.

In the fall of 2010, the Office of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Secretary for Science asked for a National Research Council (NRC) committee to investigate the prospects for generating power using inertial confinement fusion (ICF) concepts, acknowledging that a key test of viability for this concept-ignition -could be demonstrated at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the relatively near term. The committee was asked to provide an unclassified report. However, DOE indicated that to fully assess this topic, the committee's deliberations would have to be informed by the results of some classified experiments and information, particularly in the area of ICF targets and nonproliferation. Thus, the Panel on the Assessment of Inertial Confinement Fusion Targets ("the panel") was assembled, composed of experts able to access the needed information. The panel was charged with advising the Committee on the Prospects for Inertial Confinement Fusion Energy Systems on these issues, both by internal discussion and by this unclassified report. A Panel on Fusion Target Physics ("the panel") will serve as a technical resource to the Committee on Inertial Confinement Energy Systems ("the Committee") and will prepare a report that describes the R&D challenges to providing suitable targets, on the basis of parameters established and provided to the Panel by the Committee. The Panel on Fusion Target Physics will prepare a report that will assess the current performance of fusion targets associated with various ICF concepts in order to understand: 1. The spectrum output; 2. The illumination geometry; 3. The high-gain geometry; and 4. The robustness of the target design. The panel addressed the potential impacts of the use and development of current concepts for Inertial Fusion Energy on the proliferation of nuclear weapons information and technology, as appropriate. The Panel examined technology options, but does not provide recommendations specific to any currently operating or proposed ICF facility.

Experiments, or 'shots', conducted at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) are discrete events that occur over a very short time frame (tens of nanoseconds) separated by many hours. Each shot is part of a larger campaign of shots to advance scientific understanding in high-energy-density physics. In one campaign, scientists use energy from the 192-beam, 1.8-Megajoule pulsed laser in the NIF system to symmetrically implode a hydrogen-filled target, thereby creating conditions similar to the interior of stars in a demonstration of controlled fusion. Each NIF shot generates gigabytes of data from over 30 diagnostics that measure optical, x-ray, and nuclear phenomena from the imploding target. We have developed systems to manage all aspects of the shot cycle. Other papers will discuss the control of the lasers and targets, while this paper focuses on the setup and management of campaigns and diagnostics. Because of the low duty cycle of shots, and the thousands of adjustments for each shot (target type, composition, shape; laser beams used, their power profiles, pointing; diagnostic systems used, their configuration, calibration, settings) it is imperative that we accurately define all equipment prior to the shot. Following the shot, and capture of the data by the automatic control system, it is equally imperative that we archive, analyze and visualize the results within the required 30 minutes post-shot. Results must be securely archived, approved, web-visible and downloadable in order to facilitate subsequent publication. To-date NIF has successfully fired over 2,500 system shots, as well as thousands of test firings and dry-runs. We will present an overview of the highly-flexible and scalable campaign management systems and tools employed at NIF that control experiment configuration of the facility all the way through presentation of analyzed results.