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We describe an experiment, the UMIST Linear System (ULS), in which a hydrogen plasma stream, guided by a longitudinal magnetic field, is injected through a diaphragm containing an orifice into a separately-pumped target chamber in which the neutral hydrogen pressure can be raised to a maximum of 8 mTorr. The stream is about 6 mm in diameter, has an electron temperature of up to 15 eV and an ion flux of 3 × 10 18 s −1 ; it is supersonic with Mach number up to M ≈ 3. We have studied both the passage of the stream through the orifice and the interaction of the supersonic plasma with neutral hydrogen in the target chamber. We find that transmission is incomplete even when the orifice diameter is five times that of the plasma; we attribute this to the presence of ion trajectories which extend well outside the visible plasma and are intercepted by the diaphragm. In the target chamber, the stream does not broaden, but the ion flux decreases approximately exponentially with distance, with a scale length of the order of the mean free path for momentum transfer in ion-neutral collisions, and much less than that expected for other processes, such as charge exchange or electron-ion recombination. Elastic collisions alone cannot decrease the flux, but would lead to a large accumulation of slow ions in thermal equilibrium with the neutral gas, which must be limited by some other loss process: collisional diffusion and electron-ion recombination are too slow, leading to a density approaching 10 20 m −3 . The observed density is of the order of 10 18 m −3 , requiring a process with a rate of 10-100 times faster. Calculated rates for molecular-activated recombination (MAR) of the slow ions are of this order, and the predicted density agrees with our observations to order of magnitude.

The first demonstration of laser action in ruby was made in 1960 by T. H. Maiman of Hughes Research Laboratories, USA. Many laboratories worldwide began the search for lasers using different materials, operating at different wavelengths. In the UK, academia, industry and the central laboratories took up the challenge from the earliest days to develop these systems for a broad range of applications. This historical review looks at the contribution the UK has made to the advancement of the technology, the development of systems and components and their exploitation over the last 60 years.

Almost 30 years since the last UK nuclear test, it remains necessary regularly to underwrite the safety and effectiveness of the National Nuclear Deterrent. To do so has been possible to date because of the development of continually improving science and engineering tools running on ever more powerful high-performance computing platforms, underpinned by cutting-edge experimental facilities. While some of these facilities, such as the Orion laser, are based in the UK, others are accessed by international collaboration. This is most notably with the USA via capabilities such as the National Ignition Facility, but also with France where a joint hydrodynamics facility is nearing completion following establishment of a Treaty in 2010. Despite the remarkable capability of the science and engineering tools, there is an increasing requirement for experiments as materials age and systems inevitably evolve further from what was specifically trialled at underground nuclear tests (UGTs). The data from UGTs will remain the best possible representation of the extreme conditions generated in a nuclear explosion, but it is essential to supplement these data by realizing new capabilities that will bring us closer to achieving laboratory simulations of these conditions. For high-energy-density physics, the most promising technique for generating temperatures and densities of interest is inertial confinement fusion (ICF). Continued research in ICF by the UK will support the certification of the deterrent for decades to come; hence the UK works closely with the international community to develop ICF science. UK Ministry of Defence © Crown Owned Copyright 2020/AWE. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Prospects for high gain inertial fusion energy (part 1)'.

The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) is tasked with supporting Continuous At Sea Deterrence (CASD) by certifying the performance and safety of the national deterrent in the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) era. This means that recourse to further underground testing is not possible, and certification must be achieved by supplementing the historical data with the use of computer calculation. In order to facilitate this, AWE operates some of the largest supercomputers in the UK. To validate the computer codes, and indeed the designers who are using them, it is necessary to carry out further experiments in the right regimes. An excellent way to meet many of the requirements for material property data and to provide confidence in the validity of the algorithms is through experiments carried out on high power laser facilities.

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