Speaker
Dr
Ted Perry
(Los Alamos National Laboratory)
Description
Recent iron opacity experiments on the Sandia National Laboratories Z machine have shown up to factors of two discrepancies between theory and experiment. Much effort has been put into looking at the experiment and the opacity theories but a resolution of the discrepancies has not been forthcoming. It is emphasized that the discrepancies present a fundamental theoretical challenge. To help resolve this question an experimental platform for doing opacity experiments is being developed on the National Ignition Facility (NIF). This platform will be able to replicate the experimental conditions of the Z experiments and also extend the measurements to other temperatures and densities. Experiments to date have demonstrated the capability to produce a satisfactory X-ray backlighting source and the ability to achieve the appropriate plasma conditions in the opacity sample. Some initial iron data has been taken but there are still problems with backgrounds and with the spectrometer used to make the measurements. The path forward for reducing the backgrounds and improving the spectrometer will be presented. It is expected that data for comparing with the Z experiments will be available within a year.
Primary author
Dr
Ted Perry
(Los Alamos National Laboratory)
Co-authors
Dr
Barbara DeVolder
(LANL)
Dr
Brian Wilson
(LLNL)
Dr
Carlos Iglesias
(LLNL)
Dr
Duane Liedahl
(LLNL)
Mr
Eric Huffman
(NNSS)
Dr
Evan Dodd
(LANL)
Dr
Greg Rochau
(SNL)
Dr
Jim Bailey
(SNL)
Mr
Jim Emig
(LLNL)
Dr
Jim King
(NNSS)
Dr
John Kline
(LANL)
Dr
Kirk Flippo
(LANL)
Dr
Manolo Sherrill
(LANL)
Dr
Marilyn Schneider
(LLNL)
Ms
Maryum Ahmed
(LLNL)
Dr
Robert Heeter
(LLNL)
Ms
Tana Cardenas
(LANL)
Dr
Todd Urbatsch
(LANL)
Mr
Tom Archuleta
(LANL)
Dr
Yekaterina Opachich
(NNSS)