Theoretical studies on electron and radiation preheatings

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Abstract
In order to enhance the coupling efficiency, a low Z ablator is generally used for ICF targets. The ablator thickness is appropriately chosen so it is burned out by the end of a laser pulse. Then all of the implosion kinetic energy is contained in the DT fuel. However, a small amount of preheating degrades the compression in a hollow shell, DT fueled target implosion. In this paper, we investigate the preheating level of the fuel shell by Fokker–Planck simulations of the electron heat transport.From the analysis, it is found that a thick surface layer of a laser irradiated low-Z target is preheated by Maxwellian tail electrons which have a long mean free path. Hence, we propose that the target be precompressed by a tailored pulse, in order to increase the shell ρΔR at the laser peak.