Science, Vol.327, No.5970, 1231-1235, 2010
Charged-Particle Probing of X-ray-Driven Inertial-Fusion Implosions
Measurements of x-ray-driven implosions with charged particles have resulted in the quantitative characterization of critical aspects of indirect-drive inertial fusion. Three types of spontaneous electric fields differing in strength by two orders of magnitude, the largest being nearly one-tenth of the Bohr field, were discovered with time-gated proton radiographic imaging and spectrally resolved proton self-emission. The views of the spatial structure and temporal evolution of both the laser drive in a hohlraum and implosion properties provide essential insight into, and modeling validation of, x-ray-driven implosions.