Localized mix-induced radiative cooling in a capsule implosion at the National Ignition Facility
B. Bachmann, J. E. Ralph, A. B. Zylstra, S. A. MacLaren, T. Döppner, D. O. Gericke, G. W. Collins, O. A. Hurricane, T. Ma, J. R. Rygg, H. A. Scott, S. A. Yi, P. K. Patel
Abstract
We present direct measurements of electron temperature variations within an inertially confined deuterium-tritium plasma caused by localized mix of higher-Z materials into the central hot spot. The data are derived from newly developed differentially filtered penumbral imaging of the bremsstrahlung continuum emission. Our analysis reveals distinct localized emitting features in the stagnated hot-spot plasma, and we infer spatial variations in the electron temperature: the mixed region is 660±130eV colder than the surrounding hot-spot plasma at 3.26±0.11keV. Our analysis of the energy flow shows that we measure approximately steady-state conditions where the radiative losses in the mix region are balanced by heat conduction from the surrounding hot deuterium-tritium plasma.