Investigation on hohlraum energetics at the SG laser facilities

Hohlraum plays an important role in indirect drive inertial confinement fusion. It converts intense laser into soft x rays which is used to drive the D-T capsule to achieve ignition. In hohlraum physics studies, hohlraum energetics is one of the key issues because it is directly related to the scale of ignition laser facility. Another important issue in hohlraum physics study is the radiation asymmetry. The integrated experiments at the National Ignition Facility indicated that the radiation asymmetry control in cylindrical hohlraums is an extremely challenging problem and one of the main obstacles in achieving ignition [1]. Recently, Lan et al. proposed an octahedral spherical hohlraum which has the natural superiority in providing high radiation symmetry [2]. As a new and promising hohlraum, the spherical hohlraum attracts much research interests. Here, we report on the spherical hohlraum energetics experiments performed at the SG series laser facility.