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S P Regan

Publications and source records attributed to S P Regan.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Fourier-space nonlinear Rayleigh-Taylor growth measurements of 3D laser-imprinted modulations in planar targets.

Nonlinear growth of 3D broadband nonuniformities was measured near saturation levels using x-ray radiography in planar foils accelerated by laser light. The initial target modulations were seeded by laser nonuniformities and later amplified during acceleration by Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The nonlinear saturation velocities are measured for the first time and are found to be in excellent agreement with Haan predictions. The measured growth of long-wavelength modes is consistent with enhanced, nonlinear, long-wavelength generation in ablatively driven targets.

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PubMed2004

Effects of nonuniform illumination on implosion asymmetry in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion.

Target areal density (rhoR) asymmetries in OMEGA direct-drive spherical implosions are studied. The rms variation / for low-mode-number structure is approximately proportional to the rms variation of on-target laser intensity / with an amplification factor of approximately 1/2(C(r)-1), where C(r) is the capsule convergence ratio. This result has critical implications for future work on the National Ignition Facility as well as OMEGA.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Dependence of shell mix on feedthrough in direct drive inertial confinement fusion.

The mixing of cold, high-density shell plasma with the low-density, hot spot plasma by the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in inertial confinement fusion is experimentally shown to correlate with the calculated perturbation feedthrough from the ablation surface to the inner shell surface. A fourfold decrease in the density of shell material in the mix region of direct drive implosions of gas filled spherical plastic shells having predicted convergence ratios approximately 15 was observed when laser imprint levels were reduced and the initial shell was thicker, corresponding to a reduction in the feedthrough rms level by a factor of 6. Shell mix is also shown to limit the spherical compression of the implosion.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Multibeam effects on fast-electron generation from two-plasmon-decay instability.

Experiments with multiple laser beams have been carried out in both spherical and planar geometry to study two-plasmon-decay instability, the predominant source of suprathermal electrons in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion experiments. These electrons are observed using the hard x rays generated through electron-target interactions. The experiments show for the first time that the total overlapped intensity governs the scaling of the suprathermal-electron generation regardless of the number of overlapped beams, in contrast to conventional theories that are based on the single-beam approximation.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Time-resolved areal-density measurements with proton spectroscopy in spherical implosions.

The temporal history of the target areal-density near peak compression of direct-drive spherical target implosions has been inferred with 14.7-MeV deuterium-helium-3 D3He proton spectroscopy of the 60-beam, 30-kJ UV OMEGA laser system. The target areal-density grows by a factor of approximately 8 during the time of neutron-production ( approximately 400 ps) before reaching 123+/-16 mg/cm(2) at peak compression in the implosion of a 950-micrometer-diam, 20-micrometer-thick plastic CH capsule filled with 4 atm of D3He fuel.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Multibeam stimulated brillouin scattering from hot, solid-target plasmas.

We report on multibeam, laser-plasma interaction experiments in plasmas relevant to future direct-drive-ignition experiments. Six interaction beams are incident on preformed plasmas containing critical density. Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) shows strong evidence of electromagnetic wave seeding of side- and backscattering. The data are also consistent with shared ion waves driven by the six symmetrically arranged interaction beams. Early SBS quenching is observed and attributed to the hydrodynamics of the plasma.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Effects of fuel-shell mix upon direct-drive, spherical implosions on OMEGA.

Fuel-shell mix and implosion performance are studied for many capsule types in direct-drive experiments at OMEGA. The amount of mixing and the size of the mix region are inferred from charged-particle spectrometry data and confirmed with an experimentally constrained model. Measured yields and convergence ratios CR fall short of one-dimensional predictions, especially for low capsule fill pressures. CR is approximately 11 for pressures from 3 to 15 atm, in contrast to predictions of approximately 25 for 3 atm and approximately 12 for 15 atm. The performance shortfalls are likely to be caused by fuel-shell mix.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Shell mix in the compressed core of spherical implosions.

The Rayleigh-Taylor instability in its highly nonlinear, turbulent stage causes atomic-scale mixing of the shell material with the fuel in the compressed core of inertial-confinement fusion targets. The density of shell material mixed into the outer core of direct-drive plastic-shell spherical-target implosions on the 60-beam, OMEGA laser system is estimated to be 3.4(+/-1.2) g/cm(3) from time-resolved x-ray spectroscopy, charged-particle spectroscopy, and core x-ray images. The estimated fuel density, 3.6(+/-1) g/cm(3), accounts for only approximately 50% of the neutron-burn-averaged electron density, n(e)=2.2(+/-0.4)x10(24) cm(-3).

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Evolution of shell nonuniformities near peak compression of a spherical implosion.

The evolution of shell modulations near peak compression of direct-drive spherical-target implosions has been measured using the 60-beam, 30-kJ UV OMEGA laser system. The spatial size and amplitude of shell-areal-density modulations decrease during the target compression, then increase during its decompression as expected. The shell uniformity at peak compression has been increased by reducing single-beam, laser-drive nonuniformity.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1998

Alteration of Kupffer cell function and morphology by low melt point paraffin wax in female Fischer-344 but not Sprague-Dawley rats.

This study was conducted to compare the effects of 60-day dietary exposure (2%) to low melt point paraffin wax (LMPW) on both general liver morphology and Kupffer cell (KC) function and morphology in female F-344 and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Livers from only F-344 rats fed LMPW had granuloma formation/lymphoid cell aggregates with small areas of necrosis. Significant increases in serum alanine and aspartate aminotransferase as well as gamma-glutamyltransferase activities were detected only in treated F-344 rats. Additionally, detectable amounts of LMPW were present only in livers of treated F-344 rats. Because KC can be involved in granuloma formation, their morphology and function were examined. Electron microscopy revealed the presence of large, irregularly shaped, membrane-associated vacuoles in cells isolated from F-344 rats exposed to LMPW. These vacuoles were not seen in KC from control rats and rarely detected in KC isolated from LMPW-exposed SD rats. Moreover, indices of KC function including phagocytic activity and nitric oxide and superoxide anion production were significantly increased by KC isolated from F-344 rats exposed to LMPW (1.6-, 36-, and 2.2-fold increases, respectively) over untreated controls. In contrast, LPS-stimulated production of TNF and LTB4 was significantly decreased only in KC of LMPW-fed F-344 rats. No significant changes in these functions were observed in KC isolated from SD rats exposed to LMPW or from KC isolated from control F-344 or SD rats. These data provide evidence that dietary LMPW alters the morphology and functional capacity of KC of F-344 but not SD rats and these changes may ultimately lead to granuloma formation.

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