Debris mitigation techniques for petawatt-class lasers in high debris environments

Abstract

This paper addresses debris mitigation techniques for two different kinds of debris sources that are found in the high-energy density community. The first debris source stems from the laser-target interaction and this debris can be mitigated by avoiding a direct line of sight to the debris source (e.g. by using a sacrificial fold mirror) or by inserting a thin debris shield. Several thin film debris shields have been investigated and nitrocellulose was found to be the best suited. The second debris source originates from an external high-energy density driver or experiment. In our specific case, this is the Z accelerator, a Z-pinch machine that generates 2 MJ of x rays at 300 TW. The center section of the Z accelerator is an extremely violent environment which requires the development of novel debris mitigation approaches for backlighting with petawatt lasers. Two such approaches are presented in this paper. First, a self-closing focusing cone. In our facility, the focused beam on target is fully enclosed inside a solid focusing cone. In the first debris mitigation scenario, the last part of the cone has a “flapper” that should seal the cone when the pressure wave from the Z-pinch explosion hits it. In the second scenario, an enclosed target assembly is used, with the last part of the focusing cone connected to a “target can” which houses the laser target. The laser produced x rays for backlighting escape through a 3 mm diameter hole that is protected by an x-ray filter stack. Both techniques are discussed in detail and have been successfully tested on the Z accelerator.